Late Tang

(Thanks to Nanying Yu and Wu Wuyou for their support, thank you!)

Newly seized the Liaodong Peninsula, plus a large area of ​​Pyongyang and the domestic city on both sides of the Yalu River downstream, and also forced the Bohai people to withdraw from the alliance with the Khitan and Goguryeo people, and received a large amount of war reparations. Another messenger in Chang'an reported that the emperor had An order was issued to let the Zhengshitang draw up an edict to confer him the title of King of Andong County.

But Li Jing was not as excited and happy as everyone imagined, on the contrary, he was very sad.

On the tower of Anwu Gate, the southwest gate of the second city gate on the west side of the domestic city, which was just taken over from the people of Bohai, the warm wind in May blew up a few strands of scattered hair and brushed it on Li Jing's face.He didn't even bother to move, and lay comfortably on the recliner, feeling the cool breeze on his face.

"The king, Mr. Jing, Mr. Li and Mr. Gai are all looking for the king." Gongsun Lan, wearing a red soft hat and a gauze robe, walked slowly to Li Jing and stretched out her hand Help him disturb the loose hair and tie it into a bun skillfully.

Li Jing didn't even open his eyes, he knew what the three counselors were looking for him to do.In addition to the newly established Hengzhou extorted from the people of Bohai, the town [***] now governs ten states plus fifteen counties in Ziqing Town.With such a large territory, except for Jinzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou, the other seven states are mostly newly occupied land.The seven states add up to more than [-] people.The town [***] needs a large number of people to enrich the prefectures and counties. At the same time, dozens of counties in the seven prefectures also need a large number of officials and officials to manage.

There are also soldiers and horses stationed in various states and cities, plus the resettlement of the people after they migrated, as well as food and housing, and even the arrival of the summer harvest, the harvest of grain in the fields, and the beginning of summer planting, there are too many things. up.During this period of time, he was busy fighting, and Li Jing was also exhausted.Now that the battle has finally come to an end and the phased victory has been achieved, Li Jing wants to take a relaxing rest for a while.

The successive military victories of Zhen[***] also brought many cumbersome affairs after quickly occupying a large number of territories.If the newly acquired territory cannot be stabilized, the various problems caused may even rot the fruit of this victory.

Li Jing found that to fully stabilize these newly occupied territories may mean that the town [***] will not be able to launch major battles for a long time.Because the logistics are difficult to keep up with, the newly occupied territory must be converted into a stable control area, so that Zhen [***] can continue to attack with confidence.

This discovery made Li Jing very depressed.He originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of Bohai's withdrawal to uproot Goguryeo and annex it in one fell swoop.But now it seems that if you can't stabilize the territory you currently occupy, even if you can get away with winning other Goguryeo territories, it will be difficult to hold on.Once something breaks, the whole chain can break.

However, although Li Jing has such a consciousness, the generals under him don't think so.All the generals were encouraged by the current victory, and they all wanted to attack Goguryeo in one go, and even directly seize Liaoxi.

Li Zhen and Lin Wei from Pingzhou sent several urgent letters in a row, saying that the three military leaders of Pingzhou, Liu Xun, Fu Wenda, and Li Juyi, had called for battle several times, hoping that the troops would go out of Shanhaiguan, take directly to the west of Liaoning, and take back the camp. state.Although the letter said that the three military leaders were eager to fight, Li Jing could see that Liu Xun and others were not the only ones in Pingzhou who were eager to fight, even Li Zhen and Lin Wei, who Li Jing always thought were very stable, They couldn't hold back anymore.Seeing that Li Jing led the other generals and won the land of six states in a row within ten months, it was not easy for them to hold back until now.

And the generals on the Liaodong side came to see them in turn, and after a few words, they all started to ask for a battle, willing to lead troops to fight.

Not only the army masters came, but also Li Jing's nine disciples, although they were only chamber masters at the moment, they all clapped their chests and shouted that they were willing to go to battle with only their troops and horses.Many generals even shouted that they wanted to take a certain city, and if they couldn't take it, they would raise their heads to meet Yunqu.

Pulling out the subordinates who came to ask for a fight, made Li Jing feel uneasy, and had to hide in the domestic city.After arriving here, many generals still came to see him, so Li Jing had no choice but to hide on the gate tower.

"Brew me a cup of tea!" Li Jing opened his eyelids and said to Gongsun Land.

Gongsun Lan is always a woman who can make Li Jing feel at ease, and a cup of hot tea is quickly served.In addition to tea, there are beef jerky, cold seaweed shreds and a large bowl of gruel on the tray. "Looking at you, you must have not eaten breakfast. Drink some porridge to fill your stomach. Just drinking tea is not enough."

Before Li Jing finished his bowl of porridge, Li Liang, Gai Yu and Jing Xiang came to the city gate tower.Li Jing could only sigh when he saw that the three of them were all dressed in Confucian robes with black borders on a white background, holding folding fans in their hands, as if they had encountered him inadvertently while browsing the domestic city.

"I thought I could steal half a day's leisure, but the three gentlemen refused to give it the slightest chance. Find a place to sit by yourself!"

The three of Li Liang didn't take it seriously, and directly asked the guards to bring a few horses to sit opposite Li Jing. Jing Xiang even said directly to Li Jing: "The king of the county is really in a good mood, the scenery here is indeed better than other places, and the beauty is beside you , and porridge and side dishes, envy others."

Li Jing gave him a blank look, "If you want to eat, just say it." Li Jing turned to Gongsun and smiled, "Give our three governors a small porridge and side dishes."

The three of Li Liang are all serving as governors, and they are also holding important positions in Zhen[***] and the Anton Metropolitan Protectorate. The current Northern Expedition camp has not yet been disbanded, and the three of them are also holding important positions.The three of them came together, so it was naturally impossible for them to enjoy the scenery.After talking a few words, he began to talk about official business.

"The governors, defense envoys, and inspectors of the newly established three prefectures of Xiuzhou, Hengzhou, and Qingzhou, as well as the county magistrates of the twelve counties below, as well as the following Cao officials and even officials, need to be appointed and dismissed immediately. A snake without a head can't do it. Only the officials in charge can carry out various affairs such as immigrants." Li Liang said while picking up the porridge, looking at the way he drank the porridge, it seemed like he hadn't eaten for a few days .After three or five chops, he turned to look at Gongsun Landao again, "Ma'am, have another bowl of porridge!"

Jing Xiang and Gai Yu also immediately said: "Give me another bowl." They also said, "Sitting on the gate tower and drinking porridge, the taste is different." Li Jing stared angrily.

Li Jing also knew that these matters must be resolved urgently, so he said to the three of them, "Do you have any suitable candidates to recommend?" It's a pity that these three people are very cunning. Everyone shook their heads quite intelligently and didn't answer the conversation at all.Although Li Jing asked them, the appointment and dismissal of such state-level officials was the biggest and most core right in Li Jing's hands, and they would never touch it easily.

Seeing this, Li Jing also knew that it was inappropriate for him to ask them.After thinking for a while, he finally said: "I have a preliminary list. Let Li Chun serve as the governor of Xiuzhou, Zeng Yuanyu serve as the defense envoy of Xiuzhou. Xiao Dingbang serves as the governor of Qingzhou, and Pei You serves as the defense envoy. Han Anguo serves as the governor of Hengzhou, and Guo Shunli serves as the defense envoy. Three The procurator of the prefecture, and then discuss with the candidates from the counties and counties of the three prefectures."

Li Jing found that with the rapid expansion of his territory, almost all the officials in his feudal town held several positions at the same time.Especially for those officers, although Li Jing implemented the separation of civil and military affairs, the officers served in the army of the feudal town and at the same time served in the states of the feudal town.The defense envoys of the ten states are basically served by military leaders of various armies.This is not a good phenomenon, but Li Jing has no other way to solve this problem for the time being.After all, there are still too few suitable officials under Li Jing.

The three of them seemed to have something to say about Li Jing letting Han Anguo and Xiao Dingbang, who were from aristocratic families, serve as the governors of two states, but they didn't say a word.In fact, Li Jing also hesitated to choose these two candidates, but in fact, if they were not used, Li Jing would not have a better candidate.The other candidates did not have enough qualifications at all, but most of the qualified ones were generals.The separation of civil and military is a system set by Li Jing himself, and he doesn't want to break him again.

On the contrary, Li Jing is not worried that no one will be available for the county magistrate, county magistrate, and county lieutenant.Since Li Jing established the Wenhua Pavilion in Dengzhou, and gave idle official positions as consultants to those talented scholars and celebrities who came, and invited them to serve as professors, teachers, etc., and also helped them print and publish anthologies, many scholars were attracted to vote.Moreover, since the newspapers, weekly magazines and magazines printed in Dengzhou were released, those literati can easily publish their poems and classic interpretations, opinions and theories in these places, and even openly criticize and participate in town [ ***] After some affairs in the place came, more literati came to this land that made all literati excited.

Although many of these people are pure literati and poets, there are also many who are very good at current affairs and official administration.Li Jing selected many suitable people from these people, and invited them to serve as consultants and consultants.Now the town [***] needs a large number of officials. These state and county officials can be promoted from the original officials of Denglai several states. The vacancies left after the promotion can be filled by these consultants and consultants.

Jing Xiang also raised the issue of the need for a large number of immigrants to the new prefectures of Liaodong. According to his proposal, the six prefectures of Jizhou, Jianzhou, Anzhou, Xiuzhou, Hengzhou, and Qingzhou in Liaodong now have only 20 people. The population is too small, which is not good for the town[***] to control the states.Therefore, he proposed that at least 40 people need to be immigrated to the states, so that the states can reach the size of 10 people.In this way, the land of Liaodong can be completely made into a stable territory under the real Tang Andong Metropolitan Protectorate.

"If you need people, go to Denglai to recruit, recruit from Pingzhou, and even send people directly to the Central Plains to recruit. No matter if they are refugees or refugees, as long as they are young and have no disabilities, they can be recruited. You can even go farther and send a boat to Huainan , Zhenhai, Eastern Zhejiang, and Western Zhejiang."

Jing Xiang smacked his lips, "It's a bit difficult. The disaster situation has eased in the past two years. Although the grass bandits made some noise last year, they were severely suppressed by the court. Many people who were kidnapped were taken back by the court. And they went to various places to recruit It’s not easy, now that there are no disasters anywhere, as long as there are no military disasters, it is impossible for the local government to let the people under its rule abandon the soil and leave.”

Li Jing frowned, also aware of this problem.In the past, a large number of refugees poured into Dengzhou, and even formed a team outside Dengzhou, because of the famine fleeing caused by successive disasters.But now there are no such major disasters in various places, and the military disaster is not serious, so how can the government allow the people to abandon their land and flee famine.When all the people fled, there would be no one to cultivate, no taxes, money and food.The powerful landlords in those manors will also not easily let their tenants leave.

But now he needs a large number of people. Although he already has 300 million people, the town [***] is not only farming, but also a large number of workshops and mines need people.No one has laid down these counties so firmly.It is impossible to ask the court to relocate, and it is impossible for the people in the court to agree to Li Jing's emigration from other places.

Li Jing wanted to scold her a little bit. In the past two years, there were people everywhere, and he had to pick and choose. Now even if he is disabled, it may not be easy to deal with.

"Think of a way, spend money to buy those beggars, refugees, and proletarians from various government offices. Then send people to spread the news, saying that we need a large number of people here, and those who come will be paid for resettlement. Then send people to the Yellow River, Jishui, Huaihe, and Yangtze Rivers. Wait for the recruitment point to be set up along the river, and as long as they sign up there, they will be picked up and sent over."

Gai Yu put forward an idea, "You can also buy slaves directly with money. Our goods can be directly exchanged for slaves. The landlords and manor owners in the Central Plains have many slaves. We can buy them directly. In addition, we can also trade with Silla, Japan and Bohai bought slaves. After buying them, we can declare that these people will be free after a few years of farming, and they will definitely stay seriously.”

"This is a way!" Li Jing nodded. In this way, the town [***] may have to spend a lot of money to obtain the population.But there is no other way now, population is an important resource after all.

If possible, in fact, fighting a few battles can gain population faster.But where to fight?The direction of Bohai had just signed an agreement with them, and if they shot at them at this time, it would be tantamount to tearing up the agreement, and Bohai would inevitably be forced to fall to the enemy again. This is not worth the candle.You can also attack Silla, but the situation in Silla is not very good. Silla has never been hostile to their actions. If you send troops to Silla, it will also lead to an additional enemy.

Goguryeo can do it, but what Li Jing lacks now is not territory, but population.

"This is forcing me to rob people." Li Jing sighed.Finally, he said: "Didn't all the generals call for a war, so let's fight. Ziming, you will inform the commanders of the armies in a while. After three days, the inner city will discuss matters. If you want to fight, then just fight." Big one." (To be continued.)