The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 264 The butt determines the head
Before Li Heng arrived in Anxi, the population of Anxi was very small, and the people were basically "soldiers and farmers combined".

The so-called "integration of soldiers and farmers" refers to the registered population of Anxi, who either have someone in their family serving in the army, or have someone who has served in the army, or they themselves are a soldier.

Now, after ten years of hard work by Li Heng, the population of Anxi has increased, and refugees from the Central Plains, tribes from neighboring cities, and people from other countries have all come to seek refuge, so Duan Xueshi simply promoted the fact of "integration of soldiers and farmers" before.

If we consider it from Anxi's perspective alone, this is indeed a good choice, but if we look at it from the perspective of the Tang Dynasty, it is a bit too arrogant.

Li Heng is now in charge of Qixi, which is Anxi and Beiting. These two places together have nearly 60,000 regular troops under his command. In addition, although the Jimizhou Town is not included in the Tang Dynasty's household registration, they have the obligation to provide troops to the Tang Dynasty. There are also vassal states in the Western Regions, and they also have to provide troops to the Tang Dynasty. In this way, the army that Li Heng can mobilize at ordinary times is at least more than 100,000 people.

A vassal king who can call upon an army of 100,000 and train a standing army will be more terrifying than Nanzhao.

With a sharp weapon in the body, the murderous heart starts from the beginning.

If Li Heng had tried harder and integrated Jimizhou and the countries in the Western Regions, he might have the possibility of dominating one side. However, as the saying goes, a kingdom cannot be established in a half-hearted manner. This small corner cannot support much of a future after all.

So Li Heng had to give up the little benefit in front of him.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said, "General Duan's suggestion is good, but I'm afraid the court will not allow it. I will report the matter of the standing army to the court when I have the chance, but there is no need for it now. However, we can find a compromise. In years when there is no war, we can hold trials to select strong and capable men to join the army. In years when there is a shortage of men, we can give priority to recruiting those who participated in the trials. Let General Duan handle this matter."

"Yes." Duan Xueshi accepted the order, bowed to Li Heng, and sat down in his seat.

Then, other people reported some important military and political affairs, and Li Heng answered them one by one.

An hour passed and the people present left one after another, leaving only Gao Xianzhi, Liu Yan, Zhang Guangsheng and Wang Zhihuan.

Li Ying saw that the four people stayed and knew that they all had private matters, so he asked them one by one.

Li Ying first asked Wang Zhihuan, "What's the matter, General Wang?"

Wang Zhihuan smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Highness, I have a good friend, his surname is Wang, his name is Changling, and his courtesy name is Shaobo. He has just arrived in Qiuci and hopes to find a job in Qixi."

Wang Changling was good friends with Wang Zhihuan, Meng Haoran and Wang Wei. During the Kaiyuan period, he had been to the outside of Yumen Pass and wrote a large number of frontier poems.

These people were well-known, but they were frustrated in the Central Plains, so they thought of going to Qixi to join Li Heng.

Li Ying was not very clear about Wang Changling's political talents, but from his early experiences, he could see that he was able to endure hardships. Such a person could at least gain some reputation if he stayed in Qixi.

So Li Heng said, "I have heard of Wang Shaobo's great name for a long time, but I have never had the chance to meet him. Now that he is here, just let him work with you. When I have time later, I will definitely go to see him."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Wang Zhihuan bowed to Li Ying and retreated.

Liu Yan waited for Wang Zhihuan to leave and said with a flattering smile: "Your Highness is well-known for your virtue, and people from all walks of life in the Tang Dynasty have come from far and wide to serve you. If all the princes in Chang'an were like your Highness, there would be no need to worry about the Tang Dynasty not being able to move to a higher level."

"General Liu, you are too kind." Li Heng shook his head and smiled, "If you have something to say, just say it directly. There is no need to flatter me first."

Liu Yan smiled and said, "I have recently investigated various places in Qixi and discovered several copper and iron mines with excellent quality. Now that the Tang Dynasty is short of copper coins, should we report to the court and allow Qixi to mint its own coins?"

There are indeed many excellent copper and iron deposits in the Anxi area. Historically, after the Tang army in the Western Regions was trapped in an isolated city, they adopted the reign title "Dali" of Emperor Daizong of Tang and minted the "Dali Yuanbao" in the style of Kaiyuan Tongbao. Later, when Emperor Dezong of Tang succeeded to the throne, they adopted the reign title of Emperor Dezong of Tang and minted the new "Jianzhong Tongbao".

However, what Li Heng is thinking about now is not the issue of resources. He is thinking that the civil and military officials in Anxi seem to have changed a little.

In the past, Anxi's civil and military officials rarely proposed such suggestions that were "out of touch" with the imperial court, but now, loyal officials like Duan Xueshi and Liu Yan have begun to come up with the idea of ​​training a standing army and minting coins. But if you think about it carefully, they don't seem to have changed, because if Anxi is loyal enough, these actions will be good for both the Tang Dynasty and Anxi.

In other words, they proposed to focus on Anxi and give supplementary support to Datang.

But it's understandable.

After all, Chang'an is thousands of miles away from Anxi. Li Longji and the powerful people in Chang'an cannot decide whether they live well or not, but Li Heng can.

Their interests are consistent with Li Heng's, and Li Heng is the sky above their heads.

This is what is called the butt determines the head.

Li Heng began to understand the "passive" side of An Lushan's rebellion.

When many things develop to a certain stage, if you don’t move forward, others will push you forward.

Li Heng was silent for a long time this time before he said, "Minting coins is a matter of great importance and we cannot act recklessly. All weapons in Qixi must be supplied by the court. We might as well change our thinking and mint weapons to reduce the pressure on the court."

"This..." Liu Yan was stunned.

Because in his opinion, casting weapons and casting coins were both taboos for the imperial court.

Liu Yan was stunned for a moment, and said, "Your Highness, is there any difference between the two?"

Li Heng smiled slightly and did not answer. He turned to ask Gao Xianzhi, "What do you think, General Gao?"

"Your Highness, there is a difference." Gao Xianzhi said bluntly, "In the eyes of the court, money is the root of everything, and weapons are only a part of the army. That's why the right prime minister desperately makes money and delegates military power step by step. But in the eyes of the border troops, the ability to fight is the root of everything, and having a sword in hand is more important than anything else."

Liu Yan suddenly realized and said, "I have learned your lesson. It seems that casting weapons is easier to get the court's approval than casting coins, and it is also more beneficial to the border town."

In fact, Li Heng did not want to mint coins, but he could not bring up the matter himself. He had to wait for An Lushan to say it first. Anyway, An Lushan was not far from proposing the request to mint coins.

Gao Xianzhi saw that the issue of forging weapons had been brought up, so he said, "Your Highness, we have previously sent people to instruct Ningyuan in forging weapons, and have trained a group of people. Now we can use these people to open a weapons workshop. Do you want me to arrange it right away?"

Li Heng said: "First secretly deploy manpower. As for when to start work, we have to wait for two people."

Gao Xianzhi asked curiously, "Who are you waiting for?"

Li Ying said: "Yang Zhao and Bian Lingcheng."

Gao Xianzhi was startled and asked in confusion: "Yang Zhao has ulterior motives, and Bian Lingcheng is the military supervisor. They all want to make things difficult for Anxi, so how could they help us?"

Li Ying smiled and said, "As long as we use them well, they will speak for us."

Gao Xianzhi couldn't figure it out for a moment, but since Li Heng said so, he believed it and just said, "I will follow your Highness's arrangements."

(End of this chapter)