Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 142: The Navy Commander Takes Office, Tan Dian Surrenders

Li Yuanji and his entourage arrived at the dock. Before they arrived, Li Yuanji and his civil and military officials were already waiting there.

"My lord, is this man really so talented?"

When Ning Chun learned about this person, he was also shocked. You told him that such a person is only a county lieutenant now?
Ning Chun really felt dazed. People like this should be valued.

Li Yuanji smiled and nodded.

"This person is indeed very capable, but he is still a little immature. We are in need of talent here, so we'd like to have as many as we can."

Li Yuanji was also very emotional. If he had the family background like Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, he would not be like this. Look at those two people, they had many wise ministers and good generals, but when he, Li Yuanji, was in Chang'an, he could only show off one of them.

This comparison was directly hurtful. Li Yuanji felt tired and helpless just thinking about it.

In Li Yuanji's mind, he has been considering whether to train some talents himself. Although it takes a long time, it seems that he will be able to make a breakthrough after a few years.

Li Yuanji put this idea in his mind and stopped thinking about it. He would think about opening a school later. The sooner he invested, the earlier the people who graduated first could be used. Li Yuanji thought it was a good idea.

After a long time, under the expectant eyes of everyone, the boat gradually approached the shore, and Li Yuanji immediately walked over.

The soldiers on the boat got off the boat and came to Li Yuanji.

"Your Majesty, the person has been brought here."

Li Yuanji's eyes were always on the man behind him. Seeing this, the man immediately saluted.

"Liu Rengui, the lieutenant of Chencang County, pays respect to His Majesty."

This was the person Li Yuanji was looking for, Liu Rengui and Liu Zhengze. They were former staff members of Ren Gui, the ambassador of appeasement of Henan Province. They were highly regarded by Ren Gui and later served as military officers in Xizhou. Soon after, they were transferred to the position of lieutenant of Chencang County.

It was not until Li Shimin came to power that Liu Rengui beat the commander Lu Ning to death with a stick. Li Shimin then knew of such a person. As a result, Liu Rengui was promoted to the position of Xianyang County Magistrate. Even though he was later promoted to Xin'an County Magistrate and served as Jieshi Zhong, he was never taken seriously.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, Liu Rengui joined the army and took part in the conquest of Baekje. His personal abilities gradually began to show, and he came to the fore. He was gradually given important positions until the Battle of Baekgang, when Liu Rengui became completely famous and was subsequently ordered to govern Baekje.

It was not until June of the first year of Qianfeng that Liu Rengui was promoted to the right prime minister and concurrently the inspector of the left guard of the crown prince. At the same time, he was granted the title of male of Lecheng County for his military achievements. At that time, Liu Rengui was already 65 years old.

These are the reasons why Li Yuanji valued Liu Rengui. That is, Liu Rengui relied entirely on himself to get to where he was. If he had joined Li Shimin during this period, once Li Shimin ascended the throne, Liu Rengui would definitely not be worse than Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong, and might even be better.

Liu Rengui's disadvantage was that he did not rely on any force, but relied on himself and his own abilities to reach such a height. This is the most commendable thing.

Li Yuanji stepped forward and solemnly helped Liu Rengui up.

"Yes, you look energetic. Are you dissatisfied with me for sending people to look for you this time?"

After hearing this, Liu Rengui said solemnly, "King Qi, I am not dissatisfied at all. On the contrary, I am very terrified. I have just been appointed as the lieutenant of Chencang County. I never thought that the King Qi would send someone to look for me. This is an honor for me."

Liu Rengui was also excited. He had never paid attention to those rumors. He was just a nobody now. Suddenly, he was noticed by the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty. His heart was burning with excitement. Although he didn't know the reason, the prince of the Tang Dynasty was an unattainable existence for him.

Li Yuanji laughed immediately.

"Haha, Zhengze is really a quick-witted person. I won't say anything else. I can tell you that I sent someone to invite you here because I want you to command the navy in my fiefdom, that is, Lingnan. I will hand over all the navy to you.

How about it, do you dare to challenge me? I have great confidence in you, but I wonder if you have confidence in yourself?"

When Liu Rengui heard Li Yuanji's words, he was shocked. He looked at Li Yuanji with wide eyes, his eyes full of disbelief. To be precise, it was disbelief. He felt like he was dreaming. He, Liu Rengui, was just an unknown person without any reputation.

Even the Chencang County Lieutenant had just taken office. He really didn't know where Li Yuanji got the confidence from. He believed in himself more than he did and directly let him lead all the navy in Lingnan.

Not to mention the size of the navy, just this kind of power and trust was very touching to him, and he was very scared. The power was great, the trust was great enough, and the courage was even greater.

Except for Xie Shufang, the others were also shocked. Xie Shufang originally knew Li Yuanji's plan, but the others did not know about Li Yuanji's decision and were stunned by Li Yuanji's generosity.

Especially Yuwen Bao, he looked at Liu Rengui with dissatisfaction. He was obviously the commander of the navy, but Liu Rengui had now become his superior, the commander of the entire Lingnan navy, and he, the commander-in-chief, was only responsible for the navy in Haikang.

There are now three navies in Lingnan. One is the Panyu Navy under Feng Ang, which has the most large ships and the largest number of soldiers. Another is the Haikang Navy under Li Yuanji. The other is the Yazhou Navy under Feng Zhixun, which has fewer ships and fewer people. Even the small part of the navy brought by Xi Junmai is only temporarily restrained.

Li Yuanji looked at Liu Rengui who was extremely shocked, and then spoke again.

“I asked you to be the commander of the navy because I think you can do a good job, so I asked someone to invite you. In addition, I will attack Ryukyu next. Ryukyu has attacked my caravans and provided a habitat for pirates. I must eliminate them.

The king has everything ready now, just waiting for you to come. First, take the navy to find Ryukyu to practice. On the other side, Linyi has also provoked us many times, and I think there will be a war in the future. The geographical location of Linyi is very important to Lingnan.

Once the war starts, I will definitely destroy their country and incorporate their land into my fiefdom. The navy will then be the main force in attacking Linyi. After conquering Linyi, I will also let you govern Linyi, so you must be mentally prepared.

How about this? Give me a reply, and don’t think about anything else. The only thing you need to consider is whether you are willing to follow me.

I can give you some time to get familiar with everything here and prepare for your studies. When you feel you are ready to give it a try, then go play Ryukyu and try your hand.

Now, can you reply to me, King?"

As Li Yuanji finished speaking, Liu Rengui's mind was shocked again. He was asked to fight Ryukyu first to practice? And he also wanted to fight Linyi? And he was asked to govern after conquering it?

Liu Rengui didn't dare to think for a moment, why did Li Yuanji trust him so much? Hearing this, he himself didn't have much confidence. He just arrived, and Li Yuanji gave him such great power. He couldn't understand it, he couldn't understand it at all. But now he couldn't think about it anymore. Li Yuanji said very clearly that he didn't need to consider other things for the time being, and he would give him time. The only thing he needed to think about was whether he was willing to enter the Prince of Qi's Mansion. Liu Rengui knew very well that once he entered, Li Yuanji trusted him so much, and he would have the awareness and determination to die for Li Yuanji.

But in a moment, Liu Rengui made a decision. He was an unknown person. Instead of doing nothing, he might as well give it a try now that he had Li Yuanji's appreciation. Liu Rengui had confidence in himself.

"Your Majesty, I, Liu Rengui, am here to see you. Your Majesty is so kind and I have no way to repay you. I will die for you and live up to your trust!"

Li Yuanji immediately laughed and helped Liu Rengui up.

"Haha, Zhengze, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Now that you're finally here, it's good since you've made the decision."

Afterwards, Li Yuanji introduced everyone to each other and they got to know each other. Then they returned to the palace, where the banquet had already been prepared and the welcoming party began.

That night, Li Yuanji first called Yuwen Bao to have a private talk and comforted Yuwen Bao. The next day, he began to take Liu Rengui to familiarize himself with everything here. On this day, Liu Rengui was shocked again. Everything here was incredible to Liu Rengui.

After three consecutive days, when Liu Rengui knew everything, Liu Rengui officially took office and was appointed as the Grand Admiral of the Navy by Li Yuanji, commanding all the navy. Li Yuanji did not care about the rest. He just provided Liu Rengui with whatever he needed.

As for the navy, he handed it all over to Liu Rengui. Whether the army was a strong one or a weak one depended on Liu Rengui's own ability.

Another two days passed and Tan Dian arrived again.

"See you, Your Majesty."

Li Yuanji pulled Tan Dian to sit down.

"Why are you being so polite here? Come and sit down. You look even more radiant after not seeing you for a while."

Tan Dian's face was full of smiles, and he immediately said: "This is all thanks to the king. Now Lingnan is thriving. Your Majesty, this is the new household registration register. Please rest assured that I did not force any of them to register. It was all voluntary.

Now with the progress of development, many people are willing to believe it, except for a small number of people, those people are really stubborn, but as long as they don't cause trouble, I will not send troops to attack.

But your Majesty, I am really not cut out for development. Could you please send someone to preside over development affairs in various places, and then transfer some generals to train those inexperienced armies? Their combat effectiveness is so low that I am embarrassed to even mention it.

But I have no other options, and finally I can only ask the king for help."

After hearing this, Li Yuanji immediately stopped smiling and looked at Tan Dian seriously.

"Tan Dian, you have to think it through. I can send someone to take charge of the development, but as for the military affairs, why don't you handle them yourself?"

Tan Dian laughed when he heard this.

"Your Majesty, I am your minister and your army is your army. I think very clearly that the combat effectiveness of these soldiers is too weak and they are unable to provide assistance to Your Majesty. I am also very anxious.

I only know some tricks, and I am really incapable of leading the army. Please grant me your approval."

Li Yuanji looked at Tan Dian solemnly. He really didn't expect that Tan Dian came here this time to hand over power to him, especially the military power.

Li Yuanji knew very well that Tan Dian had handed everything over to him. For a moment, Li Yuanji was very pleased. He had always had this knot in his mind. Now that his strength was gradually increasing, this problem was gradually becoming something that needed to be solved. Now it seemed that it could be solved stably.

“Since you have thought it through, let’s do this. You continue to lead the army, but those who are not up to par in the army must be eliminated. The army must be elite, otherwise, no matter how many soldiers there are on the battlefield, they will be useless.

Afterwards, I will arrange for people to go to the army to assist you in training and screening the army. Everything about the army will still be under your command. The army's armor, weapons, bows and crossbows and other military equipment will be provided to you one after another as they are manufactured later.

I am very happy that you have this awareness, and you can rest assured. If you don’t let me down, I will not let you down. This is my promise to you.

But your ability does need to be improved. I will send you some military strategies later. You can take them back and study them carefully. I hope you can become a famous general and leave your name in history."

Since Tan Dian has made a final decision, he is willing to believe it. Li Yuanji is very clear that this decision is not easy to make. Now that Tan Dian has surrendered, it means he is truly following him. Tan Dian's territories instantly became his actual control areas.

The nature of the situation now is completely different from before. Before, Lingnan was just his fiefdom, and they had a superior-subordinate relationship. Now, Tan Dian has completely joined his Qi Wang Mansion, and they have a master-servant relationship.

The nature of the situation has changed, and he can now really get involved in many things, such as military equipment and other support. Now he can do it with confidence.

After hearing Li Yuanji's promise, Tan Dian felt relieved. He had been observing Li Yuanji for all this time. After he was sure that he would still be valued if he followed Li Yuanji, he did not hesitate any more.

He has been paying close attention to the development of Hikang, waiting to see whether Li Yuanji would take action against him. This period of time has allowed him to truly see that the era of Lingnan is about to enter the era of Li Yuanji, which enabled him to make up his mind quickly.

He did not have the strength of Feng Ang, and could not observe all the time. If he dragged it on, he knew very well that it would be disadvantageous to him. Now, in his eyes, Li Yuanji was someone he could follow, so why was he hesitating?
Hearing Li Yuanji's promise, Tan Dian was also sincerely happy.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will definitely live up to Your Majesty and study hard!"

Military strategies, there are none of these in Lingnan. He was extremely excited for a moment. In the future, he would finally be able to get in touch with these military books and strategies that he had only heard of. He also believed that after learning them, he would become even more powerful.

Afterwards, Li Yuanji told Tan Dian about the soldiers' pensions, which surprised Tan Dian greatly. He also gave Tan Dian a lot of good things, which made Tan Dian very happy.

As for the production of white sugar and the large-scale planting of sugarcane and fruits, Li Yuanji also briefly mentioned it. After all, he was the one who would send people to deal with it later, so he did not explain it in detail to Tan Dian.

Tan Dian's arrival put his mind at ease, and Li Yuanji was particularly happy. His strength was enhanced again. Now only Feng Ang was left.

(End of this chapter)