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

Chapter 146: The army gathers, the news of the delegation, and the provocation of Linyi King Fan Fanzhi
Li Yuanji passed down a series of orders and then called Ning Chun. After telling Ning Chun about these things, he asked him to speed up the preparation of supplies. The army was also preparing to set off.

"Dahe, not only the preparation of materials, but also the forging of weapons must be accelerated. You should arrange more people to go there and let the old craftsmen guide the new craftsmen. The scale of steel refining should also be increased, and more sites should be built.

If there is not enough space in Dongdao, we can put some smelters here in Haikang, Luozhou and other places. The army still has few weapons, many soldiers do not have armor, and the standard weapons are not complete. How can we fight?"

Li Yuanji's biggest problem now is that steel production cannot keep up. The shortage of manpower is one aspect, and the output of steel forging is low, which leads to the slow forging of military equipment and the slow replenishment of the army.

This is just the creation of new weapons. Some of the weapons that need to be re-melted and repaired have not been counted. Fortunately, the smelting level of weapons and armor has been greatly improved nowadays, so they do not need to be repaired after every war, otherwise the workload would be even greater.

Now Li Yuanji is worried about how to improve the productivity of steel. When it comes to this kind of heavy industry, he really has no idea. He doesn't know any talents in this area. When he was in Chang'an, he had already brought a lot of craftsmen according to the needs.

Now these things can only be handed over to these people, and all he can do is give their full support.

After hearing this, Ning Chun responded solemnly.

"Yes, Your Majesty. After I go down, I will immediately start to expand the smelting plant. As for the craftsmen, I will also arrange more manpower and let the old craftsmen guide the new ones to try to increase production."

Li Yuanji nodded, and then chatted for a while, then let Ning Chun go down. Li Yuanji looked at Xie Shufang again.

"Shufang, you must focus on training the newly recruited troops and make them combat-ready as soon as possible. When we conquer Linyi later, the army will be dispatched. At that time, the army led by Junmai and Tan Dian, together with the navy led by Liu Rengui and Yuwen Bao, will form two large armies to participate in the war.

The army here will also join this war. The specific direction will be known after I talk to Feng Ang, but there is no doubt that we will go to war, so you must hurry up."

Li Yuanji was determined to fight this battle with all his assets at stake. From the time Liu Rengui conquered Ryukyu to the time he set out to attack Linyi, it would take at least several months. In Li Yuanji's opinion, this period of time was enough for the new troops to train.

Upon hearing this, Xie Shufang also agreed.

"Don't worry, my king. We will be able to practice it before we go to war!"

After Xie Shufang left, Li Yuanji lay on a chair and began to ponder. He attached great importance to this campaign. As long as it was successful, he could completely embed his influence in the Southeast Asian countries, which would make future business smoother.

However, if he fails, he will not be able to hold his head up, at least for the next few years, and will completely lose his offensive momentum and be forced to defend. The surrounding enemies will come to him, and the threat from the Tang Dynasty will be even greater.

If you don't have strong strength, the better you develop, the more you will attract jackals and tigers, because a soft persimmon with gold can not only be manipulated, but also greatly replenished, and no one will miss such an opportunity.

Li Yuanji lay there with his eyes closed for a while, and suddenly a pair of hands were placed on his forehead and began to rub it gently.

"My dear husband, I already know about the army's expedition. Don't think too much about it. Although I don't understand those things, I believe that you will be the winner in the end.

I believe in my husband, I believe in the generals under the palace, and I believe in my husband's army, which will surely be victorious."

After learning the news, Yang Qingwan put down what she was doing and hurried back. She said she was not worried, but that was a lie. The truth was that Li Yuanji's previous brilliant military achievements were too terrifying, and he had never won a battle.

But now that Li Yuanji has made his decision, she cannot object in any way. Before the order is given, they can discuss it, but once the order is given, she must uphold Li Yuanji's dignity as a prince.

Li Yuanji spoke softly while enjoying Yang Qingwan's head massage.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. The enemies this time are just some small fry. I have elite troops here. I will not lead the troops in this battle personally. I will leave it to them.

I know you are worried, but just be at ease, nothing will happen."

Li Yuanji also knew the worries in Yang Qingwan's heart, but there was nothing he could do about it. He himself was speechless about his original body's previous battle record. He couldn't beat anyone, which was very embarrassing.

Moreover, he himself had never thought of leading the army in person. He had people under him now, so he could just stay in the rear. Unless there was no one available and no one could take the lead, or he was needed to come forward to boost morale, or he encountered an equally powerful opponent, otherwise why would he lead the army in person?
Now there are things in Lingnan that still need his help, but he has no time at all. He has to grasp the direction and take charge of the overall situation. These are his jobs.

After a long wait, the army led by Yu Minghe and Yang Shu began to head towards Yongzhou. After receiving the urgent letter, Tan Dian also led his army to Jiaozhou. As for the navy, except for the necessary ones who stayed behind, the rest all left the port. Some went to Panyu to attack Ryukyu, and some followed Yuwen Bao to Yazhou to fight pirates.

Li Xiang, leading an army of 30,000 from various states, has also begun to march towards Yongzhou. Feng Zhixun of Yazhou has also prepared his army to be ready to go out at any time. For a moment, the whole of Lingnan seemed to be on the verge of a storm.

After the news of the army's assembly spread thoroughly, all the people in the places that Li Yuanji had developed best were suddenly excited. The young and strong took the initiative to ask the officials below to join the army, and the men who could still walk wanted to be included in the corvée and do the job of transporting food and fodder.

Even the rest of the people donated the supplies in their homes, with the sole intention of giving to and helping their king.

After knowing this, Li Yuanji felt extremely proud. All this proved that everything he did here was worth it, but in the end Li Yuanji did not agree.

The expansion of the army cannot be carried out whenever one wants. One has to ensure that the training is sufficient, the materials are sufficient, whether the original farming is delayed, and whether the burden on the people is increased. Most importantly, his military equipment reserves are not sufficient. Even the existing army is not enough, so how can he expand the army again?

As for the people who transport food and supplies, Li Yuanji has already assigned auxiliary soldiers. These tasks are done by the auxiliary soldiers. The real elite soldiers are responsible for fighting on the battlefield.

In the whole Lingnan, except for the army under Feng Ang, all other places were mobilizing. Officials around Lingnan sent urgent reports to the court as soon as possible about the changes in Lingnan. Li Yuanji waited in the palace for several days, but Feng Ang did not come. Instead, he waited for the people sent to Linyi.

"See you, Your Majesty."

Li Yuanji helped the man up.

"Meng Ping, get up quickly. You must have worked hard on this trip to Linyi. When you come back this time, tell me in detail what the situation is in Linyi now."

The man sent by Li Yuanji was an old man from the Prince of Qi's Mansion, brought from Chang'an. His name was Hong Mengping.

“Your Majesty, the trip to Linyi is not that hard. We take a boat back and forth, and there are navy guards, so there is no danger.

After entering Linyi, when Linyi learned that I was a minister of the royal palace, their attitude became very arrogant. The king of Linyi was even more arrogant. After I told him the requests made by the king, they were all rejected.

Moreover, the King of Linyi also threatened that since the king’s navy had pursued the pirates into the territory of Linyi before, he must seek justice from the king.

I have been in Linyi for half a month. During this time, I have learned that Linyi is relatively backward in all aspects. The army's equipment is quite different from ours, and most of the soldiers in the army are not wearing any armor.

The army has no coordination in terms of military formation. I bribed some people with money, and I also heard that Linyi is ready to make a move against Aizhou. However, there is a lot of controversy within the army, and it has not been confirmed yet. However, Linyi's army is ready to assemble.

Finally, I had no choice but to be driven out by Linyi and had to return. This is the letter that King Fan Fanzhi of Linyi asked me to bring to the King. "

Li Yuanji was surprisingly not angry after listening to these words, and his heart was very calm. In his eyes, the conquest of Linyi had already become an established fact. Could it change because of the words of Linyi King Fan Fanzhi?
However, in Li Yuanji's eyes, Fan Fanzhi was indeed very arrogant. In the sixth year of Wude, he sent envoys to Chang'an to pay tribute and meet the emperor. Now, he dared to treat him like this. He really regarded him as a person who had failed in the struggle in Chang'an.

Li Yuanji took the letter and opened it to read. After reading it, Li Yuanji was immediately happy. He was right. What Fan Fanzhi meant was that Jiaozhou did not belong to the Tang Dynasty yet. If the Tang Emperor Li Yuan told him so, he would give up immediately.

But Li Yuanji was not like that. He just came to Lingnan as a loser and said that he was the one who started the trouble. Even if he brought the matter to Li Yuan, he was not afraid.

Li Yuanji was really amused. It turned out that this man really thought that he had failed in the battle in Chang'an and was punished to go to Lingnan. He was not afraid of him at all. Li Yuanji believed that if it was Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, let alone Li Yuan, he estimated that Fan Fanzhi would be obedient.

But it's better not to listen, so he can take action without any burden. He is not afraid of putting this matter in front of Li Yuan? The one who is not afraid is Li Yuanji! He is still the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty!

Now that Fan Fanzhi has provoked him like this, he has no reason to back down on the matter of destroying Linyi.

Li Yuanji then looked at Hong Mengping.

"Okay, I know everything about this. You've worked hard, so go down and have a good rest. After you've rested, you can start working on Lingnan's development. We're short of people everywhere, so you have to take up the responsibility."

After comforting Hong Mengping for a while, Hong Mengping left. Li Yuanji looked at Fan Fanzhi's letter again and put it away.

Provoke him? The price of provocation is the destruction of the country!
Li Yuanji then began to wait again. He had been waiting for Feng Ang to arrive. Now everything was ready except Feng Ang.

After a few days, through the daily tasks completed during this period, the contribution points reached 1,105 points. Although the increase was slow, it was still increasing.

Just as Li Yuanji was about to go out, Xie Shufang hurried in.

"Your Majesty, there is urgent news from Chang'an. It is from Yang."

Li Yuanji was stunned, and then his whole body became heavy. The news from Chang'an that Yang brought was an urgent report. Something must have happened in Chang'an. Apart from that incident, he could not think of any other reason that could make Yang act like this.

When Li Yuanji thought of that incident, his heart sank. It was not yet time for the Xuanwu Gate Incident to happen!

Li Yuanji was full of doubts. Did his arrival change the timeline? Did the Xuanwu Gate Incident happen earlier? Could Li Shimin not wait any longer?

Li Yuanji was in mixed emotions. He was really not prepared for this incident to happen. After all, there was still nearly a year before the Xuanwu Gate Incident!
Li Yuanji took the letter, opened it and was stunned. It was not for any other reason that the Xuanwu Gate Incident did not happen. The news that came was that Li Yuan sent Cen Wenben as the main envoy and Zhangsun Wuji as the deputy envoy. Li Jiancheng sent Wei Ting as the envoy, and also sent Wu Shigui to lead 5,000 troops to escort the delegation. Li Shimin sent Cheng Yaojin to lead 500 soldiers from the Qin Palace, and Li Jiancheng sent Xue Wanche to lead 500 soldiers from the East Palace to accompany them.

Li Yuanji was stunned when he saw the news. He was full of doubts. What on earth was going on? Why did Li Yuan make such a big fuss, especially when Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng sent their trusted generals and civil officials to come?
Li Yuanji was really confused. What were these people doing here? What did Li Yuan mean by this? Why was he making such a big fuss?
After reading the letter, Li Yuanji was stunned. After all this time, it turned out that his business affairs had reached Chang'an, but the things he sent were too little, which made Li Yuan angry and ordered him to send people to Lingnan.

After reading the letter, Li Yuanji was immediately relieved. As long as he knew the purpose, it would be fine. As for Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, he could guess at this time that they must have come here to inquire about the news. After all, these people didn't know his specific situation in Lingnan.

Then Li Yuanji was happy. He was really happy. He was familiar with all the people who came to Lingnan this time, except Cen Wenben, especially Xue Wanche. This man was the deputy guard of his Qi Wang Mansion. This was not a big deal. The key was that this deputy guard was Li Jiancheng's man and could directly mobilize the army of his Qi Wang Mansion.

This is also the reason why he did not bring Xue Wanche with him when he came to Lingnan, as well as a small number of military generals. How could his large army be directly mobilized by Li Jiancheng?
As for Wei Ting, he was also an old acquaintance. He was quite surprised. After this man was exiled by Li Yuan, he did not expect that Li Jiancheng would dare to bring Wei Ting back to Chang'an despite Li Yuan's dissatisfaction. He was really brave.

(End of this chapter)