The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 429 Who took advantage of whom?
The glory of Li Mi's 50-strong army is no longer there. Now its strength is only 20, which is less than half of its peak period. He has an elite division with a number of 13, and the remaining [-] are distributed among the leaders of various hills.

It is thanks to this elite army that Li Mi has the confidence to be tough and strong. He is not afraid of Yang Tong in the north, let alone Li Tang. He believes that people in the world say that Wei Jun is the third power in the world If it's not correct, I should be tied for second with Li Yuan.

In the evening, in the study room of the Palace of Wei, Li Mi stood in front of a map, staring at the Jingxiang area, and the internal historian Bing Yuanzhen was behind him, persuading him to form an alliance with Li Tang.

"Your Majesty, the existence of Yang Tong has seriously threatened the southern princes. Therefore, I believe that our biggest enemy is the Sui Dynasty, not Li Tang."

Bing Yuanzhen drew a straight line from Xiangyang on the map with a wooden pole, arrived at Gaoliang County near the sea, and then went straight to the northeast, and said: "From the current situation, Li Tang can still go to the south to annihilate Xiao Xian. And Lin Shihong, thus occupying the vast area south of Jingzhou. After continuing to occupy the south of the Lingnan, they can expand to the northeast, so as to fight Shen Faxing, Li Zitong and others in the south of the Yangtze River. The criss-crossing water network will drag Li Tang who is not familiar with water warfare. For a long period of time, Li Tang could live in harmony with our Great Wei. But the Sui Dynasty was different. It ruled the north and had no wars outside. It could only develop southward. Even if the Sui Dynasty attacked Fighting against Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong will also threaten our Great Wei, and it is in the fundamental interests of Great Wei to unite Tang and Sui."

Bing Yuanzhen's efforts to persuade Li Mi were naturally due to Li Tang's ten thousand taels of gold, and more importantly, what he said was also in the interests of Wei Guo.

Li Mi did not speak, but received Li Tang's envoy the next day.

……

Li Tang's envoy was Wen Yanbo, the Minister of Zhongshu. He was led by several guards to Li Mi's official room.

"Report to the king, the Tang envoy will bring it!"

"Please come in."

The door opened, and Wen Yanboan walked into the room with his head held high. The room was spacious and bright, filled with a faint scent of sandalwood. Sitting in the middle was Li Mi, king of Wei, wearing a royal robe and a three-beam crown, and a minister sat on the left and right.A couch was placed opposite Li Mi, obviously it was prepared for him.

Wen Yanbo collected his mind, stepped forward to bow to Li Mi and said: "The special envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Wen Yanbo, is meeting His Royal Highness the King of Wei!"

"Wen Shilang is free of courtesy! Please sit down."

Li Mi was born in a nobleman in Guanlong, with a high level of literary accomplishment. His ostentation and etiquette are in place, and he has the aura of a formal dynasty. Li Mi feels good, but he regrets that the background of Pengcheng is too low, and he does not have the skills of Daxing, Luoyang, Yecheng, etc. The ancient capital has a rich history, let alone support him.

"Thank you King Wei!" Wen Yanbo thanked him for being seated.

Li Mi introduced with a smile, "These two are Fang Xuanzao, Minister of the Great Wei Dynasty, and Bing Yuanzhen, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and they are important ministers of the Wei Dynasty. Shilang Wen must have heard of it."

Wen Yanbo knew that Li Mi had accepted a group of old Sui courtiers after defeating Yu Wenhua and others, but famous people like Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan were just used by Li Mi to show off, and the power of Wei State was actually in his hands. In the hands of his confidants, like these two in front of him, they can be called Li Mi's right-hand men, which is also the main reason why Feng Lun fled from Li Mi to Xiangyang.

"The two important ministers, I have admired you for a long time."

The three of them greeted each other, and when Bing Yuanzhen saluted, they quickly exchanged glances, and some things were clearly revealed in the eyes.

Fang Xuanzao half-closed his eyes like an old monk in meditation, as if he had nothing to do with him, even if Wen Yanbo greeted him, he would be indifferent, as if he was very arrogant.In fact, it was not that he was arrogant, but that he opposed forming an alliance with Li Tang.

Fang Xuanzao knew that Tang Dynasty was using Wei State, and he didn't want Wei State to be involved in the disputes of Sui and Tang Dynasties, but Li Mi and Bing Yuanzhen's enthusiastic attitude made him powerless and helpless.

Wen Yanbo was not embarrassed when he had a cold face, he smiled, and then saluted Li Mi: "Your Majesty, I have presented my pilgrimage letter with my own handwriting, and your majesty must have read it. I wonder if your majesty accepts my pilgrim master's suggestion of forming an alliance?"

Li Mi said: "Gu Wang has indeed read the letter written by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and considered his suggestion. In principle, Gu Wang agrees with his plan, but there are some details that need to be discussed. I wonder if Wen Shilang can make the decision?"

Wen Yanbo leaned forward and said, "If your majesty doesn't change much the conditions I put forward to the emperor, I can make the decision! If it's too big, I can only go back and ask for instructions."

Li Mi nodded: "It's not big, it's just some small conditions."

"Please make it clear, Your Majesty." Wen Yanbo was a little nervous. Although Li Yuan told him that Li Mi might add conditions and gave him certain authority, there were not many concessions.

"Gu Wang added two conditions. First, the Tang Dynasty needs to give me 50 shi of grain for military supplies."

"50 shi?" Wen Yanbo was surprised when he heard that the other party wanted 50 shi of grain.

"One or two is not much." Li Mi looked at Wen Yanbo coldly.

Wen Yanbo almost burst out laughing.

They knew that after Li Mi's grassroots officials were bloodbathed by Yang Tong, they tried their best to wipe out the assassins, and even checked and registered the household registration of the people under their rule. The harvest, Li Mi's condition of grain is also within the expectations of Li Tang's monarch and ministers, and Li Tang has two major grain-producing areas, Jingxiang and Shuzhong Plain. Last year was another bumper harvest year, with sufficient grain, and 50 shi of grain was fully obtained. It was found that it was even less than half of the 100 million stones Li Yuan imagined.

Li Mi's appetite is so small...Wen Yanbo, Li Tang's official who is used to being blackmailed, was quite surprised, and seeing Li Mi's domineering expression, he was overjoyed.But of course he couldn't agree, he adjusted his emotions secretly, deliberately showed a look of embarrassment on his face, pondered for a while, and asked again: "I don't know what is the second condition of the king?"

"It's even easier!" Li Mi's tone became quite cold, "The lonely king wants Feng Lun's head as a condition for forming an alliance."

Wen Yanbo was taken aback. The first condition was a pretense, but he really couldn't accept this condition. How could he agree to it?
Feng Lun was already the Minister of Internal History of the Li Tang Dynasty, how could it be possible to hand over his head to Li Mi?Otherwise, who would dare to take refuge in the Tang Dynasty in the future.

"Your Majesty's condition is a bit difficult for others, please think twice." Wen Yanbo tactfully rejected Li Mi.

"The lonely king originally wanted to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, but it's a pity..." Li Mi's words were full of regret.

Wen Yanbo cupped his hands and said, "My lord, can you change the condition? Think about it with your heart, if I, Datang, raise this condition, will you accept it?"

Li Mi thought for a moment, and a sly smile appeared in his eyes: "Since you say so, then the lonely king is not too difficult, you exchange 20 pieces of raw silk for Feng Lun."

This is Li Mi's real condition. Feng Lun's betrayal is certainly annoying, but Li Mi pays more attention to practical interests. The most practical property such as food and cloth is much better than Feng Lun's head.

Wen Yanbo understood Li Mi's intentions, and after cursing shamelessly in his heart, he said solemnly: "Does your lord have any other conditions?"

"Gu Wang hopes that both of us will treat each other with sincerity and deal with Yang Tong who is going south." Li Mi said

"Just relying on the four words 'treat each other with sincerity', I agree to both of these conditions." Wen Yanbo nodded solemnly, thinking to himself: 'A thief is a thief...'.

"I hope Li Tang will deliver the things as soon as possible." Li Mi glanced at Wen Yanbo, feeling extremely disdainful: What kind of bullshit messenger, who doesn't even understand the principle of asking prices all over the sky and paying back the money when he lands.It would be Li Yuan's bad luck to let this kind of person not use him.

Li Mi was overjoyed, his real stats were actually only half, unexpectedly Wen Yanbo agreed to all of them, it seems that Li Yuan attached great importance to Feng Lun, a bastard.

The two looked at each other and laughed heartily.

……

After Wen Yanbo left, Bing Yuanzhen also withdrew.

Only Fang Xuanzao and Li Mi were left in the room. Fang Xuanzao opposed the alliance with the Tang Dynasty out of selfishness, and believed that an alliance with the Tang Dynasty was a strategic mistake. What is missing?"

"For the major forces in the world today, the most precious thing is not money and food, but population."

"Although it is said that the Central Plains wins the world, it means that the Central Plains is densely populated and has sufficient sources of soldiers and food, but this is not the case now. After so many years of bandits, disasters, and wars, the population of the Central Plains has gone from ten to six. The vast land we occupy is actually Xuzhou, which is fertile and has been a major grain-producing area throughout the ages. However, due to insufficient population, many fertile fields have been abandoned. Therefore, what we lack most now is population.” Li Mi sighed. Why did he ask for 50 shi of grain as a condition? It was because of the serious shortage of military grain.

Although the territory he occupies is not small, the population under his rule cannot support an army of 40, so he can only lay off half of the troops and let those people go to farm, but it cannot solve the urgent need. Without the population, there will be no food, taxation and high-quality soldiers. If his 20 elite division is defeated, he will fall into the dilemma of having no soldiers to use.

"Your Majesty is right. Li Tang has Bashu, which has never been in war and has a large population, and now occupies the north of Jingxiang, which is rich and prosperous. That's why he has been defeated repeatedly."

"It goes without saying that the Sui Dynasty unified the north. When Yang Tong went north to Jizhou, all forces regarded the refugees as the source of instability and turmoil, and everyone feared them like tigers, but Yang Tong did the opposite. , he took in tens of thousands of refugees from the Central Plains to supplement Jizhou and Youzhou, which have ten rooms and nine empty rooms, and even invested countless money and food to support them. At the beginning, everyone laughed at his wife's benevolence, and he was an idiot who could not achieve great things, but when these populations stabilized After he came down, he was not only grateful to him, but also provided him with amazing taxes and soldiers. In the subsequent foreign wars, he grabbed a large number of people from Goguryeo and Turks to supplement the northern parts. So when others are forcing young and strong When he joined the army, he raised the threshold for joining the army, and the conditions were ridiculously high, and at the same time he was reducing the army, so how can the Sui army not be strong after being eliminated layer by layer?"

"And now we lack a stable and densely populated place like Bashu or the north, so the strength is still not as good as that of the Sui and Tang Dynasties."

Fang Xuanzao saw it quite thoroughly, and revealed Li Mi's biggest weakness.

"Ah!" Li Mi sighed a long time, and said with a wry smile, "They all have strategic depths with large populations and stable localities. Where are ours?"

"Jiangnan!"

"Jiangnan?" Li Mi suddenly became interested.

"Exactly!" Fang Xuanzao nodded. Now that he told Li Mi's problem, he naturally thought of a countermeasure: "Although there are also Shen Faxing, Li Zitong and others in the south of the Yangtze River who are raising troops to make trouble, but compared to the people in the north who are struggling to survive, Chiye Qianli is much better. Coupled with the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River, abundant water sources, and various natural advantages of harvesting twice a year, it continues to attract people from the north to flee south, making the south a place with a large population and prosperity. Wei Chen thinks that we can Develop towards the south of the Yangtze River, then use Jiangdu as the capital, take the land of Wuyue as the hinterland, control Jianghuai in the north, and reach Wuyue and Sanmin in the south, which is enough to divide the world with the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and reproduce the three-legged power of Wei, Shu and Wu."

Fang Xuanzao's words made Li Mi's heart skip a beat. At the beginning of the troubled times, the north was greatly damaged, and a large number of people fled south.

Because of Yang Guang's presence in Jiangnan, the damage caused by the war was relatively small, and instead it became an economically developed place. Although Li Zitong, Du Fuwei and others rebelled in the later period, they learned the lessons from the failure of many people in the north and stopped plundering. Killing, pay more attention to people's livelihood.

What Li Mi was most excited about was Jiangdu City, which is tall and spacious, with a large population. It is a metropolis comparable to Daxing, Luoyang, and Yecheng. If he can win Jiangdu, then he can also ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. He asked anxiously: "anything else?"

Seeing Li Mi's heartbeat, Fang Xuanzao said excitedly: "My lord, the population advantage of the Central Plains is gone now, even if we take over the entire Central Plains, it will be as it is now, with good fields and no one to cultivate them. The land is not only useless, but will become our burden. Since the Central Plains is worthless, and gaining it is useless, why should we sacrifice our lives for Li Yuan? Why not take advantage of the Sui and Tang Dynasties to lay a stable foundation for the Central Plains?"

"If the Wei and Tang allied forces defeated the Sui Dynasty, the result would be at the cost of a disastrous victory. The Sui Dynasty would be gradually moved to the north of the Yellow River. By then, Li Yuan would have people from Bashu to supplement the army. Where would our army come from? No more. We in the army will end up being annihilated by the Sui Dynasty, or annexed by Li and Tang. If the Wei and Tang coalition forces are defeated by the Sui Dynasty, then everyone will be over."

"This matter makes me think carefully, think again!" Li Mi was quite excited.

"My minister resigns." Fang Xuanzao didn't want Li Mi to overthrow the covenant with Li Tang, he only hoped that Li Mi would consider the core interests of the Wei State and not devote himself to working for Li Tang.

(End of this chapter)