Late Tang

() (Thanks for the support of the monthly ticket without me in the world, thank you brother!)

Liu Xun turned and left, and soon brought back a barbarian with a high nose and deep eyes.The Hu man was quite sturdy, his eyes swept across the flower hall, and he immediately noticed Li Jing, walked a few steps quickly, then knelt down and bowed. "Dear Lord Zhendong, this villain is the envoy of General Li Maoxun, the envoy of the Qingyi Army in Youzhou. He has come across the sea to pay his respects to the Duke!" As he spoke, he took out a gift slip from his pocket and held it respectfully with both hands. with.

Liu Xun stepped forward to take it and passed it to Li Jing.

Li Jing looked at it, and on the gift list, it said two horses from the Western Regions, one hundred silks, 100 taels of gold, 1000 taels of silver, and twenty virgin slaves.Two falcons, two hawks, two mastiffs. "

The gifts are very rich, and these things can be worth thousands of coins.It is rare, and they are all rare things, especially there are two hard-earned horses, which have to be obtained from the Western Regions, which is even more difficult.

However, Li Jing also knew very well that the heavier the gift, the greater their request must be.

"Li Maoxun is an Uighur nobleman who surrendered to Marshal Zhang Zhongwu in the early years. Unexpectedly, he has become an envoy of the Qingyi Army. He is indeed brave and good at riding." Li Jing pointed out Li Maoxun's identity with a smile, which made the envoy His face changed slightly, and he was very surprised.Unexpectedly, Li Jing knew Li Maoxun so well.

Although Li Maoxun served as the envoy of the Qingyi Army, on the surface it seemed to be similar to Li Jing's envoy of the Zhendong Army.But in fact, the two official positions are very different.

In the frontier land of the Tang Dynasty, a large number of frontier troops were established.The smallest unit of these frontier troops is the beacon shop.A shop for two to six people.Then there is Shu.A garrison under the garrison is less than thirty.The middle garrison is thirty, and the upper garrison is fifty.Further up the garrison, there are forts, villages, and camps, but basically they are all about a hundred people.

The upper part is the town, less than three hundred is the lower town, three hundred is the middle town, and five hundred is the upper town.Further up the town is Chenghe Shouzhuo.Shou Zhuo is basically thousands of people, set up Shou Zhuo envoys, suppressing envoys.City and Shouzhuo and then up, is the army.

This army also means city, an army is a fortress castle.For example, under the Lulong army in Youzhou, there are many armies, large and small, and these armies are military towns.There are as few as a thousand soldiers and as many as three to five thousand.Qingyi Army is a military city in Guizhou, northwest of Youzhou.In Guizhou, apart from the Qingyi Army, there is also the Guang'an Army.Tanzhou has the Mighty Army and the Zhenyuan Army.In Jizhou, there are Xiongwu Army, Jingsai Army, and Flood Guard.Yancheng was arrested.In Pingzhou, there is also Liucheng Army, Yuguan Shouzhuo.These are all foreign town troops, and they all belong to Lu Long's army.In the early years, the Pinglu army stationed in Yingzhou was also under Lu Long's army.

Li Maoxun was just an envoy of a border town army in the remote Guizhou on the northwest border of Youzhou, and he commanded no more than [-] soldiers and horses.Li Maoxun is not a descendant of a famous family, but a Uighur nobleman who has surrendered.

As for the Uyghur Kingdom, the grassland empire that had spanned the Mobei grassland for more than 30 years since the fall of the Turks, had already perished at the hands of Gadges [-] years ago.

Li Jing was able to reveal Li Maoxun's identity as soon as he saw him, how could this not surprise him.

Seeing the envoy's surprised expression, Li Jing smiled slightly, feeling a little proud in his heart, this is the advantage of the traverser.If it weren't for the identity of time travel, who would have thought that Li Maoxun, who is just a small foreign town army envoy in Youzhou, a general who returned to Huihe, would finally be able to use the name of Chen Gongyan to send Marshal Lu Long Zhang Gongsu was driven away.

"The Duke of this county has never had any contact with Li Junshi. I don't know why Li Junshi suddenly sent you here with a heavy gift?" Having mastered Li Maoxun's background, Li Jing is now completely invincible, no matter what he has. Conspiracy can't hit himself.

The Uighur envoy said: "Although my general is far away in Youzhou, he has long heard the reputation of General Jiyu of Dengzhou. General Jiyu was young and brave, and the Zhendong Army formed by himself was extremely powerful. Dengzhou wiped out the pirates, Qingzhou After defeating Wang Jingwu's rebel army, they crossed the sea and entered Liao again this time. With a wave of their hands, southern Liao was pacified, and several cities occupied by the Goguryeo people were captured in succession. This kind of spirit is comparable to that of Guo Zhongwu, the great general in Weizhen Grassland. My general was subdued by General Guo's aura back then, and now he admires the prestige of General Ji Yu even more. I specially sent a young man here to congratulate General Ji Yu Pacify Southern Liao. The next step is to regain the entire territory of Liaodong and repeat the power of the Andong Protectorate."

"If you have anything to say, just talk about it. You don't have to flatter me. Just say something nice. If you don't say it, then I'll see you off." Li Jing chuckled lightly and reached out to serve tea.Liu Xun also walked out immediately, ready to invite him out.

The Uighur envoy couldn't help sweating on his forehead. He didn't expect that although Li Jing was young, he was invincible.Immediately said hurriedly: "Actually, the young one came here this time and was ordered by my general to do an important business with Duke Li."

"Business? Could it be that Li Maoxun is planning to seize the position of Marshal of Youzhou?"

Li Jing's voice was not heavy, but it hit the envoy's head like a thunderbolt from the blue sky. He was stunned, his mouth was wide open, his eyes were wide open, but he couldn't speak a word.

This time the Uighurs were none other than Li Keju, the eldest son of Li Maoxun. This time Li Maoxun wanted to send someone to southern Liaoning, but he was worried about other people.Li Keju volunteered to come forward. As Li Maoxun's son, he naturally knew Li Maoxun's current plan clearly.But such a matter, in the entire Qingyi army, no more than ten people know about it. This Li Jing is far away in southern Liaoning, separated by a sea and several states in Youzhou, how did he know?

"If Li Maoxun wants to seize the position of Youzhou, although Zhang Gongsu has a bad reputation and is not supported by the soldiers of Lu Longjun, Li Maoxun's qualifications and reputation are not enough to compete for the position of commander-in-chief." Li Jing seemed to be talking to himself. "I heard that Chen Gongyan, the general of Youzhou who surrendered the army, is very popular in Youzhou. Many soldiers want to support Chen Gongyan to replace Zhang Gongsu as the commander-in-chief of Lu Longjun. Could it be that Li Maoxun wanted to make this idea, using Chen Gongyan In order to send troops in the name of the army, to hide the mountains and cross the sea, and finally drive away Zhang Gongsu, want to have raw rice for cooked rice? Use a fait accompli to force the soldiers of Lu Longjun to accept the facts?"

Li Keju was just shocked just now, but now he doesn't know what adjectives to use to describe his feelings.He just felt numb all over his body.His face was as pale as paper.One pair of legs is no longer out of control.Knelt down directly.Kowtowing to Li Jing is like pounding garlic.

It never occurred to him that Li Jing, who was thousands of miles away, knew all the plans of their father and son.If this matter was revealed at all, their father and son would probably have to flee to the grasslands outside the Great Wall, not to mention trying to seize the position of Marshal Lu Long.

"Get up, you don't have to be like this." Li Jing sneered, "You think you have planned well, but in fact there are some things that can't escape my eyes. What is your purpose here, just tell me directly."

Liu Xun stood on one side, feeling like his heart was overwhelmed.He followed Li Jing every day, and he hadn't heard anything about Li Maoxun in Youzhou recently.But Li Jing was able to tell the other party's plan to launch a mutiny all at once, and judging by the other party's reaction, it turned out to be true.For a moment, Li Jing became more mysterious in Liu Xun's heart, which made him feel a little more in awe of Li Jing, the master who was only five or six years older than him.

Li Keju knelt on the ground and did not dare to get up.He just straightened his upper body slightly, and said cautiously to Li Jing: "My general sent me here. I have heard the general's reputation for a long time. Secondly, I also want to buy a batch of ordnance and war horses from the general. In addition, I also want to invite the general to send troops , to conspire with Youzhou."

"Ask me to send troops to conspire with Youzhou?" Li Jing was a little moved, but he put this touching proposal behind him in a blink of an eye.Don't look at Lu Longjun changing coaches as frequently as changing lights, but the changes are all the generals within Lu Longjun.If any outsider wants to intervene, it is estimated that they will definitely agree to the outside world.

The Lu Long army has been separated for many years, and the world is strong, even now, it is still very strong.Although the land of Yanzhao is not as rich as Jiangnan in the Central Plains, these army leaders are holding powerful soldiers.Li Jing's Zhendong Army has now taken down Liaonan, but these forces in Liaonan have not yet been truly integrated.In addition, the Goguryeo people and the Khitan people are fighting in the north, and Li Jing has to pay attention at all times.

Another aspect, Huang Chao Wang Xianzhi is fighting very well in Henan now, and it is estimated that Xue Chong of the Tianping Army and Song Wei of the Lu Army will know how powerful these grass robbers are.If Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi get closer to Wang Jingwu, it is estimated that Song Wei and the court will no longer be able to sit idly by. At that time, Song Wei is likely to call him to send troops.

Youzhou is an elephant for the time being. The snake of Zhendong Army has not yet matured, and it is too early to want a snake to swallow an elephant.

"I am the governor of Dengzhou, the governor of Anton, I don't want to get involved in your own affairs in Youzhou Town." Li Jing refused with regret.

Li Keju hurriedly said: "If the general is unwilling to share Youzhou with my general, then the Duke of the county only needs to send his navy to make a feint in the coastal areas of You, Ji and Ping prefectures to attract Youzhou's attention. .At that time, if my general wins Youzhou, he will be rewarded heavily."

"Heavy reward? What kind of heavy reward method, what can you give as reward?" Li Jing picked up the tea and took a sip.This is the new tea of ​​this year. Li Jing specially asked the tea farmers in the territory to fry the tea according to his method.Instead of using the traditional method of tea bricks and tea balls, use this newly fried tea, without adding those condiments such as onion, ginger, salt, etc., just roll it in boiling water three times. The tea is fragrant, and it is naturally familiar and intoxicating. the taste of.

Many people are not used to the tea made by this new method and the new way of drinking tea at first.Li Jing took the lead in promoting it, and now the officials and generals in Dengzhou and southern Liaoning are also imitating Li Jing's tea drinking method, and gradually bring a new tea atmosphere.Li Jing also deliberately made a batch of high-quality tea and sent it to the emperor in the capital, intending to use the name of the emperor to promote new tea.

While intoxicated by the fragrance of tea, Li Jing only heard Li Keju say: "If Youzhou is captured, my general is willing to hand over half of Youzhou Town's annual taxes to the county magistrate."

Li Jing smiled and shook her head: "Who can guarantee what happened at that time."

Li Keju didn't know what conditions to come up with for a moment, but now he was in trouble.If Li Jing doesn't know that their plan is okay, they will leave if they fail to negotiate.But now, Li Jing fully grasped their plans.If Li Jing revealed this matter to Zhang Gongsu, they would be finished.

"Whatever is the request of the county magistrate, just ask, as long as we can do it, we will definitely meet it." When it came to this matter, Li Keju had no choice but to go all out.

Li Jing thought about it, but for a moment she really didn't know what to ask for.Li Jing naturally supported Li Maoxun's preparation for the mutiny.There is no other reason, he now occupies southern Liaoning, only separated from Youzhou by a sea.Youzhou Town is not a good neighbor, Li Jing had to be on guard early.Moreover, if he regains Liaodong in the future, then Liaoxi will follow.At that time, there must be some competition with Lu Longjun.

For future opponents, Li Jing will naturally not miss the opportunity to weaken them.

It is not realistic to ask them to cede a piece of land by making a land claim.Across the sea, it was an enclave, and even if the other party gave it to him, it would be difficult for him to truly control it.For food, Hebei is also in a catastrophe now, and it is impossible for them to have excess food.What's left?

"I can sell you a batch of armaments and horses, and I can help you keep this secret. I can even send my navy to attack the coasts of You, Ji, and Ping states when you need them. As for the price, Armaments and warhorses must be paid with one hand and delivered with the other. Second, according to what you said, if your work is completed, I only need 100 million yuan, or 30 shi of grain. In addition, you have to promise me that in the future, I will Anton If the guards have regained Liaodong, you must allow us to recover the land of Liaoxi without sending troops to interfere."

"Is it just these three?"Li Keju asked cautiously, he couldn't believe that Li Jing would pass up the opportunity to kill them so easily.Li Jing was in control of their mutiny plan. At this time, no matter how excessive Li Jing's request was, they had no choice but to agree.

But now Li Jing's request is too simple.There is no price increase for the purchased weapons and war horses.The other two requirements are only to be completed after the matter is completed. Although 100 million coins or 30 shi of grain is a lot, compared with the entire Youzhou Town, it is really nothing.As for the matter in western Liaoning, Li Keju didn't even think it was necessary to bring it up separately.

Because the western part of Liaoning has basically been reduced to the territory of the Khitan people.Although Lu Longjun still possessed the name, he only went out once a year to frighten the Khitan people.In fact, a large number of Khitan people have been grazing in the western Liaoning Corridor, and a large number of Han people have migrated to Pingzhou within Yuguan.Yingzhou, nominally the territory of Youzhou, has actually basically become the territory of the Khitan people.

If Li Jing really has the ability to recover Liaodong, and then go to recover Liaoxi, then let him recover.

After confirming again and again that Li Jing had no other requests, Li Keju excitedly kowtowed to Li Jing again.Even if the matter between the two parties was settled, Li Jing asked Liu Xun to take him to Zhang Hong to discuss the purchase of armaments and war horses. (to be continued...)