Tibet.

Chapter 1476 Kill one to serve as a warning to others
Hechuan County, also known as Shijing County, is the place where the Fu River, Xihan River and Ba River converge. It is also an extremely important water transportation hub in Shu and has an extremely important strategic position.

Li Sheng's army arrived at Hechuan County. They thought they would have to engage in a fierce siege, but unexpectedly the county gates were wide open, and there was not a single soldier or official in the city.

Soon, the head of the Internal Security Intelligence Bureau stationed in Hechuan County came to see Li Sheng.

"I am Wu Jin from the Internal Security Intelligence Agency, here to see General Li!"

Li Sheng asked: "Where are they all?"

Wu Jin pointed to the mountains in the distance and said, "They are all going up the mountain!"

Li Sheng was a little confused. "Why did the Guo family go up the mountain instead of defending the city?"

Wu Jin smiled bitterly and said, "Hechuan County has not been repaired for more than a hundred years. The city walls are rotten and will break at the slightest collision. The Guo family is well aware of this. They did not spend money to repair the city walls. Instead, they started to manage Diaoyu Mountain ten years ago. There is water and land on the mountain, the terrain is dangerous, and a large amount of grain is stored. All of the Guo family's wealth and clansmen are on the mountain, and there are 20,000 troops."

Li Sheng walked up to the city wall and stood on the top of the city looking toward the mountains in the north. The mountains covered a vast area and were surrounded by three rivers. The terrain was dangerous and it was indeed difficult to attack. "

There are quite a few buildings hidden on the top of the mountain. The Guo family has been running the business for more than ten years, and they probably dug quite a few caves.

The Tang army had just attacked Liaozhai. Li Sheng knew how to deal with these rebels who occupied the mountain and acted as kings. However, Diaoyu Mountain was different from Liaozhai, so he first had to find out the situation.

At night, the scout came to report, "General, the Guo family not only has troops stationed on the mountain, but also at the foot of the mountain. They also have ships in the river. They are deployed on land and water, and their defense is very tight."

After that, the scout presented a map. Li Sheng looked at the map and ordered, "Gather all the generals to discuss the matter!"

In the big tent, Li Sheng slowly said to the generals: "In the art of war, attacking the heart is better than attacking the city. We need to undermine the enemy's will. Being too hasty will only make the enemy united, so I plan to take it slow!"

Deputy General Zhao Ting'an bowed and said, "General, Diaoyu Mountain is surrounded by rivers on all sides. I think we also need to block the water surface to prevent the enemy from getting supplies from the water surface or escaping by water."

Li Sheng nodded, "I will immediately send an urgent eagle letter to the emperor, requesting the Jingxiang navy to come to help!"

Yu Jianliang also said: "Marshal, the main method of attacking the mountain is arson. If a large amount of poison can be added, it will have a great impact on the soldiers on the mountain. I suggest preparing more poison cigarette packs."

The next morning, Li Sheng issued several orders in succession. The first was to mobilize hundreds of large ships from Chengdu to Hechuan County. The second was to send an eagle letter to the emperor, requesting the Jingxiang navy to join the war, and at the same time requesting the court to support a large amount of kerosene, poison and rockets to Hechuan County.

Li Ye received the eagle letter sent by Li Sheng from Shu in the evening.

In fact, Li Ye had received an eagle letter from the Internal Security Intelligence Agency the day before yesterday, and learned that the Guo family had gone to Diaoyu Mountain.

Diaoyu Mountain is the Diaoyu City in the late Southern Song Dynasty, a natural military fortress surrounded by rivers on three sides and the roots of mountains on all sides. The Diaoyu City in the center is in a strategic location and easy to defend but difficult to attack. When Li Ye heard that the Guo family was from Hechuan, he thought of Diaoyu City.

Back then, Mengge died while attacking Diaoyu City, which shows that Diaoyu City is not easy to attack, so we should not be too hasty.

Li Ye was in a very good mood these two days. He received the Flying Eagle Express from Bohai Prefecture, saying that Yang Liangyao not only found Australia and New Zealand, but also went to America, traveled around America, and returned home from the Bering Strait. The fleet is currently anchored at Longwan Port in Bohai Prefecture. Yang Liangyao rode back to Chang'an on horseback and has now entered Guanzhong. It is estimated that he will arrive in Chang'an today or tomorrow.

This news surprised and delighted Li Ye. It was probably the best news this year.

At this time, Wei Gao reported at the door, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Wei wants to see you!"

"Invite him in!"

Soon, Wei Jiansu hurried in and bowed, "Your Majesty!"

"What's the matter, Prime Minister?"

Wei Jiansu handed a copy of the Tang Dynasty Weekly to Li Ye, "This is the issue that will be published in three days. Your Majesty, please take a look first."

Li Yejie looked carefully at the weekly magazine and saw the headline on the front page: "The nobles of Bashu rebelled against the abolition order, and the court sent 300,000 troops to severely suppress it."

The content was that the Jia family of Qiongzhou was exterminated, the army of the Guo family of Hezhou was completely annihilated, and the family was about to be exterminated. The nobles of Bashu expressed their support for the abolition order.

Li Ye nodded, "Okay, let's do this! Let all the wealthy families in the world see what happens when they go against the imperial court."

After a pause, Li Ye asked again: "Has the loophole in the slave tax been filled?" Currently, there are two types of slaves, legal slaves and illegal slaves. The slave tax regulations do not make it clear and are rather vague, which gave loopholes to the operations below and legalized illegal slaves through taxation.

The purpose of plugging loopholes in the tax law is to make it clear that only legal slaves can pay taxes to continue their existence. Illegal slaves do not even have the qualifications to pay taxes and must be released immediately. If they are not released within the prescribed time limit, they will be severely punished or even exiled once they are caught.

Wei Jiansu nodded, "The loophole has been filled."

Li Ye smiled again and said, "Yang Liangyao will be back soon. The Prime Minister should welcome him well. What he brings back will completely change the fate of the Tang Dynasty and will have a profound impact on the next thousand years."

"What did he bring?" Wei Jiansu asked curiously.

"It can be said that the crop seeds in the other world can produce thousands of kilograms of grain per mu. Once they are promoted, all the people of the Tang Dynasty will no longer suffer from hunger in the future."

Wei Jiansu was overjoyed. He was a well-read history reader and he knew what food meant.
"I will personally welcome you, and the Sino-Agricultural Temple and the Agricultural College will also be there."

Wei Jiansu said goodbye and left. Wei Gao, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, is it true that we in the Tang Dynasty don't have a grain yield of several thousand kilograms per mu?"

Li Ye pondered for a moment and smiled, "Your question is actually a good one. The Tang Dynasty also has crops that produce thousands of kilograms per mu. For example, Chinese yam is generally used as medicine, but it can also be used to feed people in years of disaster. It produces thousands of kilograms per mu. There are also wild peas, which can be used as fodder and the beans can also be used to provide relief to the hungry. The yield per mu is also very large, but why don't people grow Chinese yam and wild peas in large quantities?
First of all, they are not grains and cannot be eaten. Farmers have no place to sell them, so no one is willing to grow them. Although the government can grow them, who will eat them? Even if they are used to feed livestock, the livestock may not be willing to eat them. When a real disaster occurs, it will be too late to grow them. By the time they are grown, the disaster is over.

Therefore, even if the yield of yam is several thousand kilograms per mu, it can only be regarded as a specialty product at most. It can be grown in mountainous areas, not occupying arable land, and sold as medicine or vegetable. "

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for answering my question. I understand!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "So being an official must be combined with practice. It just so happens that Shuzhong needs a large number of officials. You should go to Shuzhong! Be a good local official and make a difference in the future."

Wei Gao was overjoyed, "Thank you for your recommendation, Your Majesty. I will definitely live up to your high expectations!"

"Go! Invite Guo Ziyi to me. I have something to ask him."

Wei Gao bowed and left in a hurry.

.........

Not long after, Guo Ziyi arrived. He walked into the censor's room and said with a smile, "I am also preparing to see Your Majesty!"

Li Ye also smiled slightly and said, "I guess we are talking about the same thing, you go first!"

"Your Majesty, the Jingxiang navy has 350 warships and 6,000 men. In addition, the Chengdu military depot has a large inventory of various materials that Li Sheng needs, which can be transferred at any time."

The imperial court built six emergency military supply depots across the country, including Luoyang, Jixian, Chengdu, Taiyuan, Jincheng, and Jiangdu, which were centrally controlled by the Privy Council. In emergency situations, eagle letters could be used to convey orders for use.

Li Ye nodded, "I approve the Jingxiang navy to rush to Bashu as soon as possible, and the military supplies will be arranged by your Privy Council."

"I have agreed to the Chengdu Military Supply Depot to allocate supplies. In addition, I suggest that another 300 artillery pieces be transferred to Hechuan!"

“How much inventory is there?”

"There are only 300 in stock!"

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Originally, we were going to allocate it to the navy first, so let's give it to them first! We'll transfer it to the navy after they use it."

The imperial court immediately dispatched a large amount of military supplies to Hechuan.

As the "Tang Dynasty Weekly" was sent to all provinces in the country, the attention of all the powerful families in the world was focused on Diaoyu Mountain in Hechuan.

At this time, Yang Liangyao finally arrived in Chang'an. He brought back a large number of various crop seeds from America and was warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Wei Jiansu and his ministers.

Li Ye immediately issued an edict to confer the title of Duke of Chengguo on Yang Liangyao, and the other hundreds of warriors who returned were also conferred the titles of viscount or baron to commend their contributions to the exploration of the Tang Dynasty.

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(End of this chapter)