Late Tang

(Thanks to phome and Situ Weiming for their support, thank you!)

Amidst the congratulations of the guests from all over the world, the wedding banquet between Li Jing and Xiao Yulou, the daughter of the Xiao family in Lanling ended, but the guests from all parties did not leave immediately.

"General Zhao, Li Shuai thinks highly of General Zhao's brothers. He wants to ask General Zhao's brothers to stay in Dengzhou, and is willing to confer the title of commander of the Feixiong Army of the Five Armies and Five Yamens of the Zhenguo. This is a good opportunity. How does General Zhao plan?" ?”

Sitting in the Tianzi Courtyard of Yingbin Building in Dengzhou, Yang Fuguang looked at Zhao Ji in front of him, and said with a soft smile: "Chenzhou is just a small town, and it can't compare to the town of Qi Guogong today. If you stay in Dengzhou , the future is limitless. Li Zhenguo said that he has already made preparations and will soon use troops against Liaodong to regain the old land of Andong. This is the time for General Zhao to use force. General Zhao, if he can really regain the land of Andong, This is a great achievement.”

Zhao Ji is 51 years old, with a majestic appearance and a strong appearance.

As a local wealthy family in Chenzhou, and his family has been a general of Chenzhou for generations, he was reluctant to leave Chenzhou at first.However, in the past two days, several counselors from the town [***] have come to lobby one after another, and then Li Jing also came to see him in person, and now Yang Fuguang also came to persuade.Moreover, Guan Jian is that Cui Anqian, commander of the Zhongwu Festival, has sent a letter, saying that as long as Zhao Ji is willing to stay, then he will respect his choice and will take care of the Chenzhou Zhao family in the future.

The bargaining chip Li Jing offered him was really good. The commander of the Feixiong army, his two younger brothers will serve as the commanders of each army in the town [***], his two sons, and the five sons of his two brothers, In addition to the other dozen or so nephews of the Zhao family, Li Jing also arranged for the camp owner to wait for the position in the capital.

Zhao Ji is over 50 years old, and he does not only value the position of a military leader, although this military leader is one of the five armies of Zhen [***].But half a hundred years old, he is still willing to come to Dengzhou, and the more important thing is Zhao Ji's heart to make contributions.He has carefully studied Li Jing's career path, and Li Jing is indeed good at fighting.Now Li Jing has been preparing for more than a year, and is about to use troops against Anton's old land.After preparing for such a long time, it is conceivable that this battle has a great chance of success.The imperial court has lost control of Liaodong for a hundred years. If it can regain Liaodong in one fell swoop, it will be a great contribution.

Zhao's family has served as dental generals in Chenzhou for several generations, and it has been difficult to rise up.If he can participate in this battle, maybe he can lead Chen Zhou's Zhao family to a higher level.

Before Zhao Ji came, he had discussed with the two brothers several times, and the two accompanying sons also asked for their opinions.They have no objection to staying in Terengganu, and even look forward to it.

"Zhao Ji is a minister of the Son of Heaven, and all matters of transfer shall be subject to the arrangement of the superior!" Zhao Ji finally made up his mind, but in fact he didn't have much choice.Li Jing asked to transfer him to Dengzhou, Cui Anqian already agreed, and Yang Fuguang also actively persuaded him.Under such circumstances, can he refuse?To refuse is to offend Li Jing, Cui Anqian and Yang Fuguang at the same time.In the future, in Chenzhou, how could his Zhao Ji clan stay any longer.

He is very clear that Cui Shuai promised so quickly, in addition to Cui Shuai's weakening of the local generals in Zhongwu, there is another more important reason, which is the lack of food in Zhongwu Town, especially now that Cui Anqian led his troops to chase the grass bandits, but Due to the problem of food and grass, even the shadow of the thief could not catch up. He could only watch the grass thief break through one city after another, but there was nothing he could do.If this continues, it will be difficult for Cui Anqian to secure his position as the Deputy Envoy, especially if he has offended Tian Lingzi.

Tian Lingzi in the imperial court has been stuck in the supply of food and grass, and Zhongwu Town has no ability to supply food and grass, so he can only borrow food from Li Jing.Li Jing was willing to borrow, but he put forward additional conditions to keep him.

When Zhao Ji first found out about this, he felt flattered, and Li Jing thought highly of him too.

Seeing that Zhao Ji finally agreed to stay, Yang Fuguang felt relieved for a while.Cui Anqian wanted to borrow food from Li Jing, and Yang Fuguang also wanted to borrow food from Li Jing.The Zhongwu army was not the only army that encircled and suppressed the grass thieves. The troops in other towns had no food and grass to pay, and they were unwilling and unable to leave the town to pursue the grass thieves.Seeing that the grass thieves are getting bigger and bigger, he, the deputy envoy and military envoy of the capital, is also under great pressure.If the matter gets too serious, not only will he be accused by Tian Lingzi, but Yang Fugong will also be implicated if it fails.

Cui Anqian bought 60 stone grains from Li Jing with the Zhao family as an additional condition.Although not much, it is enough to solve the immediate urgent need.Originally Cui Anqian planned to borrow it, but Li Jing was unwilling to borrow it because he didn't know when he could repay it.So in the end, let Zhongwu Town buy it, and sell it to Zhongwu Town at a price of six guan per stone, which is higher than the price per stone bought by Zhen [***].[-] stones and [-] guan, Zhongwu Town can use various things to pay, such as money, silk, cloth, etc., and even real estate shops in Zhongwu states can also be used as prices.Anyway, apart from not accepting IOUs, Li Jing did not refuse other visitors.

Yang Fuguang also wanted to borrow food, in the name of various Taoist camps.Li Jing finally agreed to sell him 30 shiliang, and he also sold it instead of borrowing it.Yang Fuguang really wanted to sell Qin Zongquan, Sun Ru, etc. to Li Jing, but Li Jing had no such intention.In the end, they had to agree to exchange for various trophies, and even transferred a group of artisans accompanying the army to Li Jing.

In addition to Cui Anqian and Yang Fuguang who bought a sum of high-priced grain, Li Jing finally agreed to 20 stone grain for each family of Du Wei, Tianping Kang Chenghui, and Taining Cui Yunqing from the Eastern Capital.

Li Jing gave a list to all the generals, begging for the generals and staff under the command of each commander.But what they want is not some famous generals, but some lesser-known small schools.

For example, he begged the five brothers Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, Zhu Qiong, Zhu Yu, and Zhu Han from Kang Chenghui, commander of the Tianping Army Festival, and some staff from other towns.

All the towns were a little surprised to see Li Jing's eating appearance.

The town [***] has grain, and is willing to sell it, but the price of this grain is too high, not to mention six grains for one stone, and each town has to come to pick up the transportation.In addition, it is Li Jing's various additional conditions that make the towns retreat the most. Some ask for the staff and generals of the town's central staff, some ask for craftsmen, and there are so many other demands that they have to give up. The matter of buying food.

However, the other towns retreated, but Zhang Tai, representing the emperor, still did not leave, waiting for Li Jing's reply.

Zhang Tai's mouth was really too big, and it would cost 500 million stone grains.Li Jing knew that this was Tian Lingzi's trick, but he couldn't completely refuse.After much deliberation, Li Jing finally came up with a plan to send 100 million stone grains to the imperial court, but the imperial court had to transport the grains themselves.At the same time, Zhen [***] paid 200 million guan of glass to the imperial court. Of course, this was calculated by Li Jing at the highest price. If it was sold to those merchants, it would only be about a million guan.In addition, Li Jing also paid a tribute of 50 stones of Dengzhou salt, as well as a batch of wine, tea, perfume, telescopes, war horses and other rare items.

Li Jing calculated the price of this batch of materials as 1000 million guan, which can be said to be the most tribute in history.But Li Jing is willing to spend so much money and food, and it is not for nothing.First of all, Tian Lingzi was asked to hand over the position of governor of Laizhou to Li Jing concurrently, and put Laizhou under the town [***], the former governor of Laizhou Xue Chong died at the hands of Huang Chao, and Li Jing also planned to annex Laizhou this time.Laizhou is adjacent to Dengzhou, and has four counties of Ye County, Jiaoshui, Changyang, and Jimo. The state city of Ye County is actually controlled by Li Jing, and the remaining three counties are now almost in ruins under the occupation of Wang Jingwu.

Although the population of Laizhou is now declining and the fields are barren, if the town [***] can take this opportunity to take over from Tian Lingzi, it will be of great significance.Owning Laizhou can give Dengzhou a better barrier, and Laizhou has many gold mines and a lot of land, which can accommodate more people.

Li Jing only wanted Laizhou, but did not ask for other territories in Ziqing, and he didn't want to touch Tian Lingzi too much and make him too defensive.

By the end of June, most of the congratulatory guests had returned, and Cui Anqian and other festival commanders had also sent people to transport food.Tian Lingzi of Chang'an finally agreed to Li Jing's proposal, and Li Jing also served as the governor of Laizhou.

He held a grand wedding banquet and received a lot of gifts, but Li Jing was also forced to sell 200 million shi of grain, which made him very heartbroken.

Although the price of 200 million shi grains is high, it can't relieve Li Jing's heartache a little bit. What really made Li Jing's life easier was keeping Zhao Ji's family in Dengzhou, and bringing in Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin brothers. Another thing is to take Laizhou from Tian Lingzi.

The town [***] has four prefectures completely occupied at once, Laizhou, Dengzhou, Jinzhou, Pingzhou, and the fifteen counties of Ziqing Town. The territory of the town [***] has already surpassed As it grows bigger, it initially has a strong foundation and owns thirty counties.

In early July, the summer harvest ends.

This year's summer harvest in the town of [***] has been bumper. With the convenience of water conservancy and the selection of good seeds, the output has increased greatly.

The high-yielding Champa rice planted on a large scale has an astonishing yield of more than three stones per mu, and the harvest of wheat and millet is also astonishing.In addition to the later harvest of yam and taro, according to preliminary statistics, the town [***] harvested 700 million shi of grain this summer.

In addition, the fishing team is also constantly fishing, making a lot of canned, salted and smoked fish.The harvest of the farm is also huge, and Li Wei also gained a lot in Khitan.

During this period of time, the town [***] also continuously purchased food from Silla, Southeast, and Annan.Although the town [***] has just sold 200 million shi of grain, its reserves are still abundant, increasing instead of decreasing.

The troop dispatch plan, which was postponed last year until now, is now officially on the agenda.

In the past year, Zhen[***] and Pinglu Army have also gone through the initial integration, and during the one-year training, they have shown a lot of training.What particularly pleased Li Jing was that after continuous integration and fine-tuning, Zhen[***] and Heping Lu's army were no longer so clearly defined. It's in my hands.Compared with a year ago, the combat effectiveness of Zhen[***] has soared.It can be said that Li Jing is no longer afraid of fighting a real tough battle.

The training of the united army and the township army is also very good. The united army has the conditions of a reserve army, and the township army has begun to take shape.

The road in southern Liaoning has been built, and the ten-foot-wide avenue allows the army to quickly go north.In addition, the Fuzhou River and the Biliu River on the left and the right have also been dredged. The navy and shipyards have built a large number of flat-bottomed transport ships.And in front-line cities such as Weiba Mountain City, warehouses have been filled with all kinds of war preparation materials brought in from Dengzhou and southern Liaoning.

Everything is ready, just waiting for Li Jing to pass down the military order to send troops. (To be continued.)