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

Chapter 4: A penny can make a Tang Qi king suffer

Li Yuanji was extremely happy to see his confidant and most powerful general. Now the only person he could rely on was Xie Shufang, who was capable, brave, and loyal.

After the Xuanwu Gate Rebellion, even though his original self and Li Jiancheng were hacked to death by Li Shimin, he still led his troops to resist. This man, like Feng Li and Xue Wanche, can be considered loyal.

Li Yuanji poured a glass of wine on the table and said with a smile: "Come, sit down and have a couple of drinks with me."

Xie Shufang hesitated for a moment, but still sat down. With just this one sentence from Li Yuanji, he already knew that Li Yuanji was different from before, both in the way he referred to himself and in the tone of his voice.

After Li Yuanji and Xie Shufang left, he put the wine down. The truth was that the wine had no taste in his mouth, so he started talking about business.

"Shu Fang, I have something to tell you. I am going to ask the Saint to make Lingnan my fiefdom. Are you willing to come with me?"

After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he looked at Xie Shufang intentionally or unintentionally. After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he saw an expression on Xie Shufang's face that he had never thought of, because he saw happiness? Excitement?
Xie Shufang was indeed happy. In his opinion, this meant that Li Yuanji had finally come to his senses. He had long ago advised Li Yuanji not to get involved in the fight between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, but Li Yuanji did not listen to him. Now that Li Yuanji had figured it out himself, Xie Shufang was really happy for Li Yuanji.

Xie Shufang immediately stood up and knelt on one knee in front of Li Yuanji.

"My lord, since I started following you, I have never thought about anything else. No matter where you go, I will follow you!"

Although he didn't know why Xie Shufang was so happy just now, Li Yuanji was also happy. What could be happier than having a capable confidant willing to follow him?

Coming to Xie Shufang and lifting him up with both hands, Li Yuanji said with emotion: "Shufang, following me has wronged you. I know your ability very well. It is not inferior to the people in the Qin Palace and the Eastern Palace, but I have not been able to let you display your ability.

I am touched that you are willing to follow me, but this matter is of great importance. After this departure, I don't know when I will be able to come back. Shufang, please think about this carefully.

If you don't want to be with me, I will definitely recommend you to the saint, or my elder brother and second brother, and will never let your talents go to waste."

Li Yuanji's eyes seemed to be about to shed tears, his eyes were full of love for Xie Shufang, as well as guilt. Xie Shufang looked at Li Yuanji, his heart also deeply moved, and he wanted to kneel down, but was held back by Li Yuanji, so he had to speak.

"Your Majesty, I have thought it through. Since I have been following Your Majesty, Your Majesty has never treated me unfairly. I know loyalty and righteousness, and I only wish to stay by Your side for the rest of my life!"

Li Yuanji was completely relieved. What he had just done was out of any other options. He absolutely could not let Xie Shufang go, otherwise he would be left with no one to use. He would have to resort to some other means.

Now that his wish had come true, Li Yuanji was extremely happy, and what he showed unintentionally touched Xie Shufang's heart.

This is also the reason why Li Yuanji always felt that he was a small figure and looked down on him, the King of Qi. At this time, even the people under Li Shimin were similar to Xie Shufang, and some were even worse than Xie Shufang.

Li Yuanji pulled Xie Shufang to sit down and started talking about the main topic.

"Shufang, we must bring a large army with us when we go to Lingnan. How many troops are there in the palace now?" Xie Shufang spoke as soon as the words fell. The army of the Prince of Qi's palace was under the command of Xie Shufang, so he knew all this by heart.

"Your Majesty, the Qi Palace has 20,000 soldiers, but among these 20,000, only 8,000 are fully armored, and the rest are either without armor or with incomplete armor.

Moreover, the army's weapons, spears, halberds, swords, shields, bows, crossbows, etc. are insufficient, and the food and fodder are only enough for three months. There is an even greater shortage of war horses in the army, with only 2,000 horses now.

Moreover, the king had asked me to select strong men outside, and he has already selected 2,000 men, but they don’t have any weapons or armor yet.”

Li Yuanji felt heavy in his heart as he listened to Xie Shufang's words. What the hell, with incomplete weapons and armor, and insufficient food and grass, there was no point in going to Lingnan. By the time he was halfway there, the army would probably have run away.

Once the army starts to march, the food and grass needed will increase. He must prepare at least half a year of food and grass before he can go to Lingnan to show off his power. Moreover, the army must wear armor and have weapons. What is the difference between an army without armor and weapons and ordinary strong men outside? They can't defend against anything.

During this period, in order to strengthen the power of the Li family, Li Yuan had the army almost entirely led by Li's relatives. Also, there were private soldiers during this period, such as his troops from the Prince of Qi's Palace and the Prince of Qin's Palace.

The rosters of soldiers were kept in the palace, not in the Ministry of War. For example, when Li Shimin went to war, the soldiers Li Yuan gave him were from the Tang Dynasty, not Li Shimin's. The difference was so obvious.

However, to support private soldiers, money and food are needed. For example, the armies of the Qin Palace and the Qi Palace required Li Shimin and Li Yuanji to pay for them themselves. The court would not give a single penny. If you can afford it and support a lot, that is your ability. If you cannot afford it, you cannot blame others.

In the past, Li Yuanji supported the troops of his Qi Wang Mansion by eating the money and food from the outside army and selling all his belongings in Qi Wang Mansion. It can be said that Qi Wang Mansion is extremely poor now.

Even so, they could only gather the needs of 8,000 people. The rest were lacking in various ways. If a real war came to pass, those 8,000 people would be the absolute main force, and the others could only cheer them on.

If people go to the battlefield without armor or weapons, they are just giving military merit to others. This is why during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, it often only had a few thousand or even a few hundred people to chase after the small countries in the Western Regions and the Northeast.

When they encountered tens of thousands of Tang troops, the enemy wanted to surrender before the battle even started and had no desire to fight at all.

So even though we have few people, we are a strong army and one can defeat ten people without any problem. If you hit someone with your sword, he will be dead. If someone hits you with their sword, it will just cause a moment of pain and then nothing will happen. This is the difference between having armor or not.

But now, Li Yuanji has a headache, as he is still short of 12,000 people, no, 14,000 equipment. Although there are some, there is still a lot missing.

Li Yuanji would never give up this army. It was his foundation after he went to Lingnan. Only with this army could he develop the area. Otherwise, he might be defeated one day.

Now the Prince of Qi's mansion has no money, and he has no private treasury of his own, so Li Yuanji suddenly panicked.

After thinking about it for a long time, Li Yuanji came up with no good solution. He immediately thought of other ideas and an idea came to him in an instant.

(End of this chapter)