Late Tang

In addition to getting two thousand soldiers, Li Jing began to change the original four battalions into the current six battalions, which are the black bear battalion and blue wolf battalion, which were divided into two from the original combat battalion, the iron wall battalion renamed as the auxiliary battalion, and the newly built battalion. The Iron Spear Battalion, as well as the Scout Battalion and Sailor Battalion.

In the new Sixth Battalion, except for the Tieqiang Battalion, which has 200 people in Liudu, each of the other battalions has 500 people in Wudu.The reconnaissance battalion originally consisted of three capitals, but now it has been specially increased to five capitals and changed to the Flying Eagle Battalion.In addition to the two scouts and one special warfare, Li Jing added a scout and cavalry to the reconnaissance battalion.Dedicated to building the reconnaissance battalion into a main battalion head, a lot of officers were transferred from the original combat battalion to fill up the strength.The sailor battalion originally had 1000 people, but Li Jing also increased it to [-] this time. There are five capitals under it, each of which is a squadron, and the five squadrons form the Shamen Town Fleet.Megan is the tenth general of the battalion, and Julie is the deputy tenth general.

With this series of changes, the Salmonella town army suddenly expanded by about 2000 people.For these newly expanded troops, Li Jing selected one thousand from the original Wuqian Zhang Lie who had surrendered, and then selected one thousand from the captives brought by Liaodong.However, Li Jing did not put the two thousand recruits together, but broke them up and divided them into six battalions.There was also a major change in the team and gang level officers of the Sixth Battalion, and entire teams and groups of sergeants were transferred to other battalions.Each battalion only retained [-]% of the original soldiers and horses, the remaining [-]% were transferred to other battalions, and the other [-]% were newly expanded Liaodong captives and returned soldiers.

The six battalions are Black Bear Camp, Blue Wolf Camp, Iron Spear Camp, Iron Bi Camp, Flying Eagle Camp, and Zhenhai Camp, with a total of more than 2000 people.In addition, there is a newly built logistics battalion, which includes the original medical capital, logistics capital, supply capital, and engineers, and also expands a pack horse capital.There are more than [-] soldiers and horses in the entire Shamen Town, far exceeding the set [-] soldiers.However, Li Jing doesn't care too much about this excess right now. The town of Shamen has begun to take shape, so there is no need to be careful about everything.For the extra soldiers and horses, a sentence of servants and children is enough to deal with it, and ordinary people dare not come to tease him easily.

At the end of February, the new Seventh Battalion of soldiers and horses in the entire Shamen Township had been mobilized and expanded.The Black Bear Battalion, Blue Wolf Battalion, and Iron Spear Battalion all entered the fortresses on the islands successively.The equipment of all the troops is also neatly equipped. Although Song Wei was given a large amount of ordnance, Li Jing also accumulated a large amount of ordnance after several battles.The ones sold to Qingnipu last time, and the ones sold to Song Wei this time, are actually just refitted, a batch of slightly old ordnance stored in the warehouse.Not only emptied the warehouse, but also made great use of it.

Just when Li Jing was about to throw off his sleeves and fight hard, so as to thoroughly digest the fruits of victory in his hand.A person who came suddenly caught him off guard.

Li Jing rushed to Dengzhou Wharf to meet him in person, and accompanied him all the way back to Shamen Town.Along the way, Li Jing secretly looked at the person in front of him from time to time, full of sighs in his heart.The man in front of him was about six feet tall, wearing a dark green official robe with a round collar, and a headband with gauze and stiff feet on his head.He is tall and straight, about thirty years old, with a fair face and no beard, and he is tall and straight, showing a talent.

But mentioning the identity of this person can't help but make people feel jealous.He is Zhang Chengye, the young military supervisor under Duan Wanrong, the military supervisor of Ziqing Town. His original surname was Kang.At this time, his reputation was not very prominent, he was just a small envoy of the military supervisor in the local military supervisory academy in Ziqing Town, where the imperial court was sent.

This time, Li Jing didn't know about his sudden arrival. He didn't receive a letter from Cui Yunqing until yesterday.The letter told him that the Military Supervision Academy of Ziqing Town suddenly wanted to send a supervising soldier to Shamen Town, and asked him to treat him well.He also said that he tried his best to fight for it, and specially invited a eunuch with better character from the Supervisory Academy to come.

He didn't know the name of the young eunuch until he met the young eunuch at Dengzhou Wharf today.Zhang Chengye, when Li Jing heard this name, his mind shook.Zhang Chengye is still just an unknown little eunuch, but for Li Jing, who is familiar with the history of the late Tang Dynasty, Zhang Chengye is a very famous figure.

The eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty were the most powerful group of eunuchs in history, even three points stronger than those of the Ming Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty.After the mid-Tang Dynasty, all the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were abolished and established in their hands. They even completely controlled the 10,000+ forbidden army. Even the emperor dared to kill more than one.When it comes to the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty, they are all a group of chaotic people, but not all.There are also good eunuchs, such as Gao Lishi in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, who dared to rush into Nanyang City surrounded by rebels with only ten riders during the Anshi Rebellion, Cao Risheng, the eunuch who represented the emperor to comfort the soldiers, and Cao Risheng, who was not famous at this time, But Yang Guangfu, who was resourceful in the Huangchao Rebellion and devoted himself to calming the rebellion.There is another one, that is the Zhang Chengye in front of him, the later King of Jin Li Ke used the supervising army around him, and he was loyal to Datang wholeheartedly.

In history, after the Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the general Zhu Wen, Zhang Chengye actually tried to revive the Tang Dynasty.He had a very good relationship with Li Keyong, and pinned his hope of revitalizing the Tang Dynasty on Li Keyong and his son Li Cunxu. He worked hard and worked hard for Li Keyong and his son all his life.In the process of assisting Li Keyong and his son, Zhang Chengye also showed extraordinary strategy and talent.However, Li Cunxu destroyed Zhu's Hou Liang and established Later Tang, but he became emperor himself.Zhang Chengye, who was determined to revive the Tang Dynasty, was desperate. He said to Li Cunxu: "The bloody battle of the princes was for the Li Tang Dynasty. Now my king has taken it for himself, and I have mistaken the old slave!" Then he died of a hunger strike.

Zhang Chengye was not only loyal to Li Tang, but also very loyal to Jin Wang Li Keyong.

According to historical records, Zhang Chengye is different from ordinary eunuchs in that he understands the general situation and also understands strategies.

Li Jing didn't know why, it turned out that after the Huangchao Rebellion, Li Keyong returned to the Central Plains from Mobei to lead the army to quell the rebellion, and then Zhang Chengye became the supervisor of Hedong Army, and he has been assisting Li Keyong wholeheartedly since then.Now, by accident, Zhang Chengye actually came to Shamen Town to serve as a military supervisor.

Since Xuanzong's time, eunuchs have been continuously used as supervisors. At that time, they were only temporary, but in the late Tang Dynasty, the supervisors became permanent.In every feudal town in the world, there is a military supervisory academy, as the eyes and ears of the emperor, they directly obey the emperor, and the local feudal commanders are mutually subordinate and restrict each other, and they also have their own guards, as few as three to five hundred , as many as thousands.The Supervising Army Envoy and Jie Shuai are both enemies and allies.

For example, Zhang Wanrong, the supervisor of Ziqing Town, represented the interests of the royal family in Ziqing Town, and Song Wei, the commander-in-chief, mutually restricted each other.However, since Song Wei was unable to fully control Ziqing Town due to the obstruction of Youya General Wang Jingwu, Zhang Wanrong naturally became Song Wei's ally.Zhang Wanrong holds three thousand guards of the Military Academy, representing the majesty of the emperor, and has always been Song Wei's greatest support, and it is also the biggest reason why Wang Jingwu has always been afraid to act rashly.

The Jiedu Envoy was appointed and dismissed by the imperial court. Before Song Wei took control of Ziqing Town, his purpose with the Supervising Army Envoy was the same, to take control of Ziqing Town.

Li Jing fought very well in this battle, which not only surprised Song Wei and Wang Jingwu, but also made Zhang Wanrong, the supervisor of the army, hear the rumors.He was also very interested in such a young general who had suddenly risen, and he had the idea of ​​wanting to win over Li Jing and take control of this powerful army that turned out to be out of nowhere. This was the result of Zhang Chengye's appointment as the supervisor of the Shamen town.If it weren't for this, a small garrison town would not be qualified to have a single military supervisor.

Li Jing didn't know whether he wanted to feel honored or helpless. Ren Bai sent down a supervisor, which was equivalent to having an extra knife on his neck.In the future, one has to be cautious about everything, but the overseer is Zhang Chengye, which still makes Li Jing a little surprised.Zhang Chengye was the most famous eunuch who was loyal to the Tang Dynasty in the late Tang Dynasty. He was well-versed in general and knew strategies. Maybe he should use his heart to win this famous and good eunuch to his side.

The supervising army is a tight curse imposed by the superior, Li Jing dare not be careless.Even if he is facing a well-known and good eunuch in Datang, he dare not be careless.The etiquette is perfect, once back to Shamen Town, all the generals were summoned to pay a visit, and a small building with green bricks and green tiles was immediately attached, and ten veterans were transferred to be guards. As well as twenty servants and maidservants, another [-] guan gift was presented.

Zhang Chengye, who was still chatting and laughing with everyone, saw these things, but his face immediately became gloomy.After a long time, he said: "I will stay in this house for the time being, and have a comfortable place to live in. But there is no need for servants and maidservants. We are here on business. I have brought a few people with me, so I don't need to waste money and extravagance." As for this big gift that you gave us, we dare not accept it. If you really want to, I think it’s better for us to present it to His Majesty the Emperor. You don’t know that there have been two consecutive years of catastrophe, and the palace’s expenses are not enough. For the sake of it."

Jinxian, this is a very unique item unique to the late Tang Dynasty.At this time in the late Tang Dynasty, the various branches of the imperial court were basically divided into vassal towns. Among these vassal towns, there were four types.As for the vassals and towns in the Central Plains established to suppress these separatist vassals and towns, all local wealth is basically used to support the troops of the vassals and towns.The rest are the border towns, which are bitterly cold, and the output is not enough to support the army. Instead, the imperial court has to send a lot of money and food to support the army every year.Only the first remaining financial town in the southeast became the last supply place for the imperial court, but the imperial court still continued to use troops in the southwest region at this time, which made the imperial court's finances increasingly insufficient.

Faced with this situation, the imperial court taxed salt tea as a monopoly, and then increased the tax, costing hundreds of dollars for salt, and many people could not afford salt.On the contrary, it exacerbated the proliferation of private salt and the emergence of armed salt dealers.There were turmoil everywhere, and the money received by the court was not much.

It was under such circumstances that the imperial court found a new money-raising project, which was donated by local officials.Local officials pay tribute to the emperor's inner treasury on fixed festival days in the name of "Jinxian".Such contributions, which had been abolished shortly before the establishment of the two tax laws, were restored immediately and became a source of further illicit tax obligations.These "contributions" became an indispensable part of government revenue, and local officials used them to win the emperor's favor. For example, one of the most courteous officials "contributed" to the court every day and invented the Rijin.

Of course, such contributions were not gratuitous. The emperors in those places donated property to the imperial court, and the emperor rewarded them with official titles, which became a disguised form of selling officials.

Hearing that Zhang Jingye had a way to contribute to Li Jing, Li Jing was taken aback for a moment.Contribution is actually a very cost-effective deal, otherwise no one would be desperate to contribute. In addition to those fixed names, you can also find a name like Rijin to send money.All efforts are rewarded.Moreover, not everyone has the opportunity to contribute, only those senior local officials such as governors and festival commanders can do it. Ordinary people can't find a way to contribute even if they have money.

It seems pretty good to spend some money to show your face in front of the emperor, get an account, and leave some impressions.

Zhang Chengye thought that Li Jing was reluctant, so he said: "If you are willing to trust us, we can find you a baron title for [-] guan. Such a reward is not bad.”

Li Jing chuckled, Zhang Chengye was really loyal, he didn't want the gift he gave him, he had to give it to the emperor, it was not for nothing, and he actually wanted to help Li Jing get a title in return.That's right, Li Jing, I'm starting to think that this supervising army is pretty good.At least, he still thinks about him.

"One hundred thousand guan." Li Jing said, "I am willing to donate one hundred thousand guan of property to His Majesty the Emperor, to fulfill my duty as a courtier, and ask Supervisor Zhang to take full responsibility for this matter for me. How?"

Zhang Chengye was very excited when he heard that Li Jing was willing to pay a tribute of [-] guan to the emperor.Quickly nodded loudly, "This matter is on us, and we will deal with it immediately when we turn back. The general is so loyal, our family will not begrudge the kind words, and we will definitely report the general's loyalty and courage." At the end, he whispered Said, "One hundred thousand guan, we will exchange the general for a viscount."

"It should, it should." Li Jing chuckled.

Zhang Chengye was overjoyed with Li Jing's promise, and immediately followed Zhang Hong to prepare the gift of [-] guan.Lin Wei and other generals surrounded Li Jing, frowning, "What do you mean by suddenly sending an eunuch to oversee the army? Could it be that Commander Song Jie can't trust us?"

Li Jing shook his head, "It's not Song Jieshuai's intention, but Zhang Jianjun has taken a fancy to us. Ziqing Town has been our eyes and ears, and it can even be directly in front of the emperor during Guanjian. Such a person cannot be offended, so please respect and hold it, maybe it will be of great use during Guanjian.”

"However, paying tribute to the emperor with [-] guan at once is a bit too generous." Wang Zhong said with some reluctance.

Li Jing chuckled, "It depends on what you think. I only said tributes of [-] guan, but I didn't say to give [-] guan directly. Our Wuliangye, rock sugar, perfume, and even fabrics and silks are all good things. Especially liquor and rock sugar perfume, but it’s the only one. It’s not normal for us to set a high price. For a jar of Wuliangye, we can price it at ten guan, twenty guan or even a hundred guan, as long as the packaging is better and the label is The best tribute wine is fine. One hundred jars of fine wine will cost you ten thousand yuan if you send a hundred jars. And after this wine is given to the emperor, we can sell it under the name of special tribute royal wine, and make it separately in the future A very tribute package is sold, and the money will not be earned back immediately. Other rock candies and perfumes can also be marked as tributes, and the price is enough. In addition, find some strange gadgets copied from the Pirate’s Den Come on, get a few more good horses, I heard that our young emperor likes playing polo the most."

Lin Wei froze for a moment, "Is this okay? Isn't this a crime of deceiving the emperor?"

"How can this be called deceiving the emperor? Of course we can't use ordinary things for the emperor. We use the best ones, so the price is naturally higher. Otherwise, how can we be worthy of the emperor's honor? "Li Jing smiled slightly.

The other generals also understood that it was true.These baijiu and other things are originally the luxury items of the only family in Shamen Town, even if the price is increased by ten times, no one else can say anything.Besides, this is not sold to the emperor, it is given to the emperor, so what does the high point and low point matter.

Everyone is reluctant to take [-] guan of real gold and silver directly, but if you just give the emperor something produced by yourself, there is nothing reluctant.Adding all those things together, they were not as heartbroken as the ten best war horses that Li Jing took out at the end.

With Li Jing's instruction, Zhang Hong immediately took Zhang Chengye to the warehouse in the town.First, show him the special products of Wuliangye, rock sugar and perfume one by one.These few things are now produced in large quantities in Shamen Town day and night, but because of Li Jing's sales strategy, which is based on the strategy of distributors by district, although there are many produced, the amount put into the same market is not much.

Even the entire Dengzhou has the most shipments, but the market has not reached saturation at all, and the prices of several commodities remain high.According to Li Jing's words, anyway, what we sell are luxury goods but not necessities. Since they are luxury goods, customers are willing to spend a lot of money to buy them, so they don't care about paying more.Facts have proved that Li Jing's business strategy of later generations is still very successful. Now these few commodities in Dengzhou are getting more and more expensive. Those businessmen are smarter than Li Jing. They buy a lot of goods, but they sell them in limited quantities, and the prices are speculated extremely high.

At present, these few commodities only appeared in small quantities even in Qingzhou, and Zhang Chengye had heard of them, so he couldn't help but be very surprised when he saw these commodities with his own eyes.Hearing that Li Jing was going to take these as tributes to the emperor, he couldn't help being very satisfied.As for the price of these tributes, he really didn't care much.Anyway, although Li Jing's price was high, it was actually not much higher than the current retail price on the market, and Zhang Hong also specifically explained that these are special tribute products, far exceeding the quality of the products on the market.

Zhang Chengye was busy for a long time, and at the end he sighed greatly, this general Li Jing is good, not only good at fighting, but also so loyal to the court and the emperor.It seems that he is a person worthy of friendship. He has to write a letter to the adoptive father in the palace, so that he can have the opportunity to say a few good words for Li Jing in front of the court princes and the emperor, and win some money for Li Jing. Chance.

(To be continued)