Tibet

Staff were an extremely important part of the politics of the Tang Dynasty. From the prime minister to the county magistrate, everyone had their own staff. Even the emperor would use academicians as his staff.

At most, Li Linfu had more than a dozen staff, but as he gradually lost power, his staff also left him one after another.

However, there were still three close aides who were loyal to him and followed him all the time. Li Linfu saw the loyalty of the three people and decided to hand them over to his grandson Li Ye and let them continue to assist Li Ye.

Li Linfu had already given orders to the three of them a few days ago, and the next step was to meet the little lord.

Needless to say, Chen Huan had already pledged his allegiance to Li Ye in Heyang County, Tongzhou, and was preparing to follow Li Ye to Suiye.

The second person I saw was the poisonous scholar Qiu Xuan. Qiu Xuan was from Puzhou, Hedong, and was a disciple trained by the Pei family. He failed the imperial examination three times. In anger, he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Li Linfu, denounced that the imperial examination was only He was good at cultivating mediocre people, and Li Linfu was very interested in him. After the interview, he made him his staff.

Qiu Xuan was good at conspiracy, and his most proud work was the planning of the Prince Li Ying case and the Wei Jian case. Although these two cases were handled by Li Linfu, it was actually Qiu Xuan who was behind the scenes.

Li Linfu initially wanted Qiu Xuan to follow Li Yu, his eldest grandson, and Chen Huan to follow Li Ye, but Qiu Xuan looked down on Li Yu and thought he was not worthy of his service. Li Linfu had no choice but to let Chen Huan follow Li Yu.

Qiu Xuan had been observing Li Ye for a long time. Li Ye's ruthlessness was quite to his liking, so Li Linfu asked him to follow Li Ye to the river, and Qiu Xuan agreed immediately.

Qiu Xuannian was about forty years old. He was very thin, with a hooked nose and cold eyes. His appearance suggested that he was a sinister person.

In the afternoon, Li Ye came to Qiu Xuan's house. Qiu Xuan's house was located in Xuanyangfang. Li Linfu rented a small courtyard for him. Qiu Xuan's wife was his cousin. The couple had a son and a daughter. The eldest son Qiu Liang was twelve years old. , daughter Qiu Xiaolian, only ten years old.

Qiu Xuan invited Li Ye to come and sit down in his study. When Qiu Xuan heard that Li Ye got the Jingjie, he was overjoyed and said: "With the Jingjie, you don't have to look at other people's faces. The emperor is greedy for pleasure and will not care about the distant river. From now on, the young master will be the de facto ruler of the river."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "Gao Lishi spoke implicitly today, but I understand what he meant. The emperor may ask Bian Lingcheng to supervise the army simultaneously with me."

Qiu Xuan smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. Bian Lingcheng won't come. He must have sent his men. The young master bribed Bian Lingcheng with money so that his men could get some benefits. A year later, an accident happened. In the accident, Bian Lingcheng's men died. The young master continued to win over Bian Lingcheng. He usually would not send people to stay permanently, but would send people over every six months to take a look. As long as they were polite and thoughtful, Bian Lingcheng would not If you are causing trouble for the young master, I actually advise you to learn from An Lushan."

"How did An Lushan do it?"

"An Lushan's appearance skills are very good. He always calls your Majesty every word. He often bursts into tears and says that everything he has is a gift from the emperor. He cannot forget his roots and must serve the emperor with all his heart. Then every ten days he has to report to Chang'an. He made a pilgrimage in the direction of the emperor. Whenever the emperor and his concubine celebrated their birthdays, he would order the whole city to hold colorful displays to celebrate. The emperor knew about these, so he was very moved by his loyalty. Every time the emperor went to Youzhou, he would be happy. Eat well, drink well, entertain well, and stuff your money with you before leaving.

His son was stationed in Chang'an. Every time an important official of the imperial court passed his birthday, he would come to celebrate and then give him heavy gifts. Therefore, everyone in the imperial court exaggerated An Lushan. Of course, except for Yang Guozhong, An Lushan wanted to provoke Yang Guozhong and The old prime minister's internal fighting ended up exposing himself. This was a rare failure for An Lushan. "

Li Ye smiled and said: "You need to have strong financial resources to learn from An Lushan!"

Qiu Xuan smiled and shook his head, "It's not like him bribing the court ministers, but imitating him in making superficial remarks. This way Bian Lingcheng also has an explanation! Governor Li can preach the benevolence of Tian Khan everywhere in the countries in the river. When the emperor hears These are the happiest things. Why does he want to expand the territory? Doesn't he just want to be the second Khan of Heaven and let his holy name spread thousands of miles? As long as the emperor is satisfied, Yang Guozhong and Zhang Jun are ignored. "

Li Ye nodded, "Sir, please take your family to Suiye!"

"I would like to take care of my humble position, but Broken Leaf is too far away, and I'm afraid my child won't be able to bear it on the road."

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "You can ride a camel. It's very comfortable, just like taking a boat. In a few days, I will take my family to my manor to play. I will ride a camel there and come back. You will know after you feel it."

"Okay! I must take my family to experience it first."

Li Ye said goodbye and left. His wife Zhuang came in and asked, "Husband, how is this thirty-eighth man?"

Qiu Xuan put a bag of money on the table, "This is five hundred Sogdian gold coins. It's a little bit of his kindness. Chen Huan went to Tongzhou with the eldest son, but the eldest son didn't give him a penny. From this little thing, I can tell a person’s character, is it worth following me?

There is no future for following the eldest son, but it is no accident that Sanshibalang was granted the title of county prince before he was seventeen years old and became the youngest military governor in the Tang Dynasty. By following him, I, Qiuxuan, will be able to honor our ancestors, and my descendants will be rich and noble for generations to come. "

"Husband, do we also want to go to Broken Leaf?"

Qiu Xuan nodded and sighed: "I feel that the world is going to be in chaos. I am not worried about you staying in Chang'an. Why don't you go to Suiye together with the whole family? I can protect you and the children's safety. Moreover, there is an official residence there, and all aspects of it are available." The living conditions should be good.”

When Ms. Zhuang heard that there would be a war, she was also scared, and nodded quickly, "Then let's go to Broken Leaf together!"

The next morning, Li Ye changed into a suit of armor and came to the Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace. After only waiting for a moment, Xiao Hua, the Minister of War, came out on horseback with several officials. When he saw Li Ye, Xiao Hua urged him to step forward and said: "Let Li The Governor has been waiting for a long time."

Li Ye smiled and said: "I have just arrived. I have brought weapons, so it is not convenient for me to enter the imperial city!"

"Captain Li doesn't have any followers?"

"There were a few of them, but it was almost Chinese New Year, so they all went home."

"I see!"

Xiao Hua looked at the sky and smiled: "Hurry up, let's go!"

Everyone rode together towards the Bashang military camp east of Chang'an City.

The first batch of 12,000 troops to rush to the river is stationed at the Xuanwu Camp in the east of Bashang. These are soldiers selected by the Ministry of War from more than 300,000 troops. Of course, they are not selecting elites, but selecting those who can go west. Soldiers, for example, if both brothers are in the army, then the elder brother will leave the younger brother. If the father and son are both in the army, then the father will leave the son. If there is an only son in the family, the only son will stay.

In addition to selection, there are also soldiers who volunteer to guard the river.

There are many advantages to garrisoning in Hezhong. First of all, the military salary is high. Normally, the salary is two per month, but it is doubled when going to Hezhong. During the period of garrison in Hezhong, the land at home can also be tax-free.

This condition is good. After all, we only go there for four years. Many soldiers want to see the world. So in just three days, more than 10,000 soldiers volunteered to guard the river. Now there is no need to choose.

When he was approaching the military camp, Li Ye thought of another question and asked Xiao Hua: "I already have an army in Suiye, what should I do?"

"how many people?"

About 1,300 people! "

Xiao Hua smiled and said: "Three thousand people are not a big problem. They would have been given 10% more military salary. The Ministry of War allows 10% of the army to be raised as logistics, so don't worry!"

"How will food and military salary be provided?"

"You have to handle the food yourself. It is too far away and cannot be transported by the court. It will be compensated in other ways. The military salary is entrusted to Baoji Cabinet to distribute it and pay it to their families. Every month, tens of thousands of dollars are transported to the broken leaves. Obviously it is not possible. Reality."

"I understand, I understand. Suiye's military camp is doing well. It should be able to solve the food problem."