Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 219: Disheartened (Thanks to the Silver Alliance of Listen to the Wind)
"Transfer Zhang Hexi to Xizhou?"

"Isn't Xizhou occupied by the Uighurs from Anxi?"

"The court said that Zhang Hexi was granted the posts of Deputy Protector of Anxi, Jiedushi of Qixi, and Rear Admiral of the Four Garrisons. It seems that they want to send him away to help Suo Xun consolidate his position in Liang Province."

"Damn it, I disliked Suo Xun from the beginning. He was promoted by relying on the merits of General Jie, and he looked down on everyone all day long. People who didn't know him would think that he was the one who defeated Shang Yanxin!"

"General, Envoy Zhang has given Lanzhou to us. Should we send troops to take over Guangwu?"

In late May, after half a month of silence, intelligence was first delivered from Liangzhou.

Zhang Huaishen sent someone to inform Liu Jilong of what had happened in Hexi, and then asked Liu Jilong to take over Lanzhou.

In addition, Zhang Huaishen also mentioned the issue of population migration, hoping that Liu Jilian could migrate population to him, and Hexi could pay a price for this.

These messages were sent half a month ago, but they only arrived today.

"Where is the brother who delivered the letter?"

At the main seat, Liu Jilong asked Cao Mao in a deep voice, and Cao Mao responded, "We have arranged to go to Yin Hotel to rest."

Liu Jilong nodded with satisfaction when he heard this, and then his eyes rested on Zhang Huaishen's handwriting on the table.

This letter was written half a month ago, and the specific situation now is another question.

It was certainly a good thing that they had gained Guangwu County for nothing and completed the entire territory of Lanzhou, but it was a bit disgusting to think that Suo Xun and Li Yizhong were also involved in the affairs of the imperial court.

"Zhang Chang!"

"The general is here!"

Liu Jilong suddenly spoke and Zhang Chang bowed quickly.

"Send the message to Dou Bin in Wuquan County, and ask him to lead the Wuquan troops north to take over Guangwu County and promote him to the governor of Lanzhou."

"The last general takes command!"

Liu Jilong didn't care who the court appointed as the governor of Lanzhou. Chen Jingchong was the most suitable person to be placed in Weizhou, and Dou Bin had gained enough experience and should be promoted to the governor of Lanzhou.

"General, I have something to say..."

After Liu Jilong gave the order, Gao Jinda stood up and bowed, saying, "General, Dou Bin has indeed made contributions, but Zheng Chu of Fenglin County has made greater contributions. You see..."

Gao Jinda mentioned Zheng Chu, the man who had once joined Liu Jilian and his men to conquer Zhangye City and followed Liu Jilian from Hexi to Longxi. He is still a county magistrate and a commander of the army.

In terms of seniority, he is second only to Chen Jingchong, Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng, Li Ji, and Geng Ming, and is more senior than Gao Jinda, Huke Siguang, Cui Shu and others.

If we talk about merit, although Zheng Chu's contribution is not outstanding, he could have been promoted to governor long ago.

Normally, Gao Jinda shouldn't be involved in such matters, but he was worried that Liu Jilong would neglect Director Zheng, so he tentatively reminded him.

Liu Jilong knew this very well, so he smiled and said, "I have never forgotten him."

"I have not promoted him yet, not because his qualifications and achievements are insufficient, but because they are too sufficient."

He laughed heartily, and after looking at everyone, he set his eyes on Zhang Chang: "Tell Ma Cheng to let Zheng Chu accompany the army. After Shanzhou is recovered, he will be the governor of Shanzhou."

"Yes!" Zhang Chang responded with a grin. He had long known that the commander would not forget his brothers who had made contributions.

The importance of Shanzhou is self-evident. Its status in Longyou is second only to Qinzhou and Hezhou, and is even more important than Weizhou.

Naturally, Liu Jilong was worried about handing over such a place to others, so he had already decided on the candidate for the governor of Shanzhou... Zheng Chu.

"General Jie, do you think Zhang Hexi will accept the order and go to Anxi to recapture the four towns?"

Cui Shu was silent for a long time, then suddenly changed the subject and asked Liu Jilong a question.

Seeing him asking, everyone stopped smiling and looked at Liu Jilong, but Liu Jilong said without hesitation: "He can, but it won't work."

Liu Jilong naturally knew what kind of person Zhang Yichao was, but he was not optimistic that Zhang Yichao could recapture the four towns.

To be honest, with Hexi's military strength, if they really reorganized their troops and marched westward, they might be able to recapture the four towns.

But the problem is that the current people's livelihood foundation in Hexi is too weak. Even though the climate in the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty was much better than that in later dynasties, Hexi could not support the westward expedition.

The reason why Shazhou prospered is that it was a town on the southern route of the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty.

In later generations, the southern Xinjiang of the Western Regions was basically Gobi Desert except for cities and roads, but it was not the case in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, people could start from Dunhuang and head to Puchang Lake (Lop Nur), and then follow the Chihe River and the Qiemo River to Yanqi and Qiuci in the north of southern Xinjiang, and Qiemo and Yutian in the south of southern Xinjiang, and finally meet in Shule (Kashgar) in the west of southern Xinjiang.

As long as you walk along the river, there are basically oases and grasslands all the way, so the environment is not that bad.

But even so, the population that the Western Regions can support is limited. Only two to three million people live in this vast land, and the population is very sparse.

Because of this, the cost of attacking and governing the Western Regions was very high.

The straight-line distance from Dunhuang in Shazhou to Yutian Town in the southern part of southern Xinjiang is more than 2,200 miles. Although there are several small towns on the way that can provide laborers, the number of laborers needed by the army is still astronomical.

A group of soldiers must be equipped with at least one hundred laborers and at least twenty horse-drawn carriages to ensure that they can transport the necessary supplies from Shazhou to Khotan.

Even if the Kingdom of Khotan was extremely friendly to the Tang Dynasty and agreed to be a vassal of the Tang Dynasty and accept Zhang Yichao's protection, Zhang Yichao could not provide at least 3,000 armored soldiers to garrison this place.

This was the case with Khotan, not to mention places further away such as Shule, Suiye, and Qiuci.

Even Xizhou, which the court instructed Zhang Yichao to recapture, was more than 400 miles away from Yizhou under Zhang Yichao's rule.

Xizhou has a population of nearly 50,000. If it can be captured, it will naturally enhance the strength of the Guiyi Army.

But the problem is that there are tens of thousands of Western Uighurs entrenched in Western Province. If Zhang Yichao wants to defeat them, he must gather the power of Hexi to achieve his goal.

But if he sent troops to recapture Xizhou, Suo Xun of Liangzhou would definitely take advantage of the emptiness of Liangzhou and invade.

Therefore, in Liu Jilian's view, if Zhang Yichao wants to maintain the current situation, there is no possibility of regaining Xizhou.

"Zhang Hexi...I'm afraid he has become discouraged."

Liu Jilong sighed and spoke. Everyone was speechless and didn't know what to say.

They are too lazy to curse that crappy court. No matter how much they curse it, it will still exist and it will be of no use.

"Okay, instead of worrying about Hexi's affairs, let's worry about our affairs."

"The summer grain has been harvested and is being recorded. Take a good rest for half a month. After half a month, we will set off for Hezhou."

Liu Jilong stood up and gave instructions, and everyone bowed and saluted.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong turned and walked towards the inner gate, and soon returned to the inner courtyard.

As soon as I walked into the yard, I heard the sound of the guzheng.

Following the sound, he walked around the inner hall and came to the back garden, which had changed from a vegetable garden to a flower garden.

Flowers of various colors compete with each other in beauty, and the sound of guzheng music continues to come from the pavilion in the flower field.

Feng Hui was sitting in the pavilion playing the guzheng, with two maids and Mrs. Zhang standing behind him.

"My dear husband is here..."

Hearing the heavy footsteps, Feng Hui stopped playing the piano, looked up quietly and forward, and sure enough, she saw Liu Jilong walking towards her.

"Mr. Lang..."

Mrs. Zhang and the others saluted, and Liu Jilong waved his hand to signal them to stand up. At the same time, he walked into the pavilion and said, "Mrs. Zhang, please go out and get a bowl of vegetarian noodles."

"Yes……"

Mrs. Zhang left with her two maids, while Feng Hui looked at Liu Jilong calmly, with a smile and dimples on her lips.

"Are you done with your work, my dear?"

Feng Hui took the initiative to pick up the apricots and knife on the table and tried to peel them for Liu Jilong.

However, Liu Jilong was not so picky. He raised his hand to stop her behavior, picked up the apricot and ate it.

"The matter of the Protectorate has come to an end. There have been a lot of incidents in Hexi."

Liu Jilong did not elaborate, but if Feng Hui was willing to listen, he would be willing to talk.

But Feng Hui didn't ask. Instead, he smiled and took out a letter from under the fruit plate next to him.

"My brother sent me a letter saying that he has gathered more than 6,000 people in Lizhou and will be able to send them to Wuzhou soon."

"It seems that my dear, your money won't last long."

Feng Hui brought him good news. He smiled happily, took the envelope, opened it, and took a quick look at the contents.

Ten years after entering the Dazhong period, the people of Shannan Road were relocated to Longxi four times, with a total of more than 17,000 people.

According to this situation, the money Liu Jilong left with Feng Bangyan was indeed not enough, and could only last for another two months at most.

Therefore, Feng Bangyan also proposed the idea of going to Linzhou after the autumn harvest.

"It's good for you to come, brother. Although I have to go out to recover Shanzhou, I still have Gao Changshi and Cui Canjun in Linzhou."

"Chen Ying will probably be back before the autumn harvest, so money won't be a problem."

Liu Jilong put the letter back into the envelope and handed it back to Feng Hui, who took it and threw it into the tea stove to burn it. Looking at the burning letter, Feng Hui touched her belly and said, "My belly has not moved for so long, I really wronged you."

"Haha..." Liu Jilong laughed heartlessly, "I'm not in a hurry, Xijun, don't be too anxious."

"By the way, I didn't finish the story I told you last time, so I'll tell you again today."

"Okay!" Seeing that Liu Jilong was so considerate of her, Feng Hui was not so worried anymore.

Liu Jilong began to tell a mythological story, which was nothing more than the "Honghuang" in later novels, which was spliced together from countless mythological and strange stories.

From Pangu creating the world to the war between three tribes, the war between wizards and liches, and the Investiture of the Gods, the whole story is very long, so long that Liu Jilong did not finish telling it before sunset.

Liu Jilong didn't know whether Feng Hui really liked to hear it, or just liked the feeling of him accompanying her. In any case, Feng Hui's eyes never left his face.

During this time, Mrs. Zhang brought a bowl of vegetarian noodles. After Liu Jilong wolfed it down, he wiped his mouth, took a sip of tea and continued.

When it was getting dark, I thought it was time to have dinner and rest, but I didn't expect to be disturbed again.

"General, someone from the outer courtyard came to report that Yang Jianjun from Jiannan Road has arrived."

Mrs. Zhang stood outside the pavilion and saluted. Liu Jilong nodded and said, "I'll go in a moment."

After saying that, he turned around and looked at Feng Hui, and saw her nodding with a smile on her face: "My dear, please go and come back soon."

"Okay!" Seeing this, he stood up and walked out. Soon he went to the main hall and saw Yang Fugong who came in exhausted.

All in all, he and Yang Fugong had been doing business for nearly a year. During this period, he bought more than 3,000 people from Jiannan Road and settled them in Songzhou.

During this period, Yang Fugong also bought horses several times, but Liu Jilian restricted the sales, with the number of horses sold ranging from as many as 700 to 800 and as few as 400 to 500 each time.

The reason for this was that Yang Fugong was always in a hurry to make transactions, which made Liu Jilong suspicious.

In addition, after Wang Tao inquired about the news from Xichuan and learned that Bai Minzhong was preparing to form a cavalry of 5,000, Liu Jilong guessed what Bai Minzhong was trying to do.

It's nothing more than getting cheap draft horses, and when there are enough draft horses, kicking yourself away.

If it weren't for my cleverness, the old thief Bai Minzhong's trick would have worked.

"General, I came here to buy draft horses. For this purpose, I brought one thousand rolls of brocade and five thousand rolls of silk."

"I believe these things are enough to purchase 800 military horses."

Yang Fugong was calculating and shrewd. He knew that Liu Jilong would not sell him the full amount, so he exaggerates the price.

What's more, he had not bought military horses in the previous transactions. Today he proposed to buy military horses. I believe that no matter how reluctant Liu Jilong is, he will sell some of his own.

"We have military horses, but we don't sell them."

Faced with the price offered by Yang Fugong, Liu Jilong shook his head and refused. After all, he didn't have many military horses.

In addition to the 8,000 military horses that have already been equipped in the army, only more than 2,400 military horses have been bred on the ranch so far.

What's more, most of them are still young and need at least four years of careful care before they can serve in the army.

Unless he was crazy, he wouldn't even think of selling it.

"General, the Tibetans are rampant in Weixi and often invade and plunder."

"I know it's not easy to raise military horses, but I beg you to be so kind as to sell me a batch."

Yang Fugong's goal was to get the military horses, and when he heard that Liu Jilong refused to sell them, he immediately became angry.

Liu Jilong also had his own thoughts on this.

The military horses cannot be sold now, but for the sake of business with Jiannan Road, he still has to paint a pie in the sky for Bai Minzhong and Yang Fugong.

“The military supervisor doesn’t know that most of the military horses in Longxi are descendants of the Dayuan horses bred in the Western Regions.”

"Although the bloodline is not deep, it is much better than ordinary Turkic horses, Tatar horses, and foreign horses, and has a strong body."

"One of our Longxi army horses is enough to exchange for three Tibetan army horses."

This is not Liu Jilian's self-boasting. After all, after occupying the Western Regions, Tubo moved the good horses from the Western Regions to Hexi for breeding.

Although Tubo lost many military horses in several disastrous battles, the descendants of Dayuan horses still exist in the horse farms in Hexi and Longyou.

There are even more than thirty precious third-generation Dayuan horses in the horse farm in Linzhou.

Although its bloodline is not as pure as that of its ancestors, it is much better than ordinary horses and is treated as a stallion by Liu Jilong.

Every spring, these thirty or so third-generation Dayuan horses have to deal with at least twenty mares until they are exhausted before they can rest.

"This……"

Yang Fugong did not expect that Liu Jilian himself came from a humble background, but had such high standards in horse breeding.

If it were Xichuan, not to mention using Tibetan horses for breeding, even Turkic horses would be an excellent choice.

"How about this, I will give two military horses to Bai Sikong and Yang Jianjun. As for buying horses, why not buy riding horses instead?"

"The horses of Longxi are no worse than those of the barbarians and the soldiers of Guannei Road."

Liu Jilong tried his best to sell his own riding horse, and Yang Fugong saw that his attitude did not seem fake, so he could only smile awkwardly and said, "Okay... May I know the price of the riding horse?"

"Fifteen strings of cash per horse." Liu Jilong replied quickly, but the price was also higher.

Yang Fugong felt helpless, but he still had to buy it.

"In that case, buy a thousand horses."

He said it casually and didn't think Liu Jilong would sell it to him, but the facts proved that Liu Jilong really dared to sell it.

"Okay!" Liu Jilong agreed, and before Yang Fugong could react, he made a promise:
"Although it is not easy to breed military horses, if General Yang comes to buy again in three years, I can supply hundreds of horses every year."

"The specific number will depend on the situation at that time."

Liu Jilong painted a pie in the sky, and whether Yang Fugong chose to eat it was up to him.

"Thank you, General Jie..."

Yang Fugong had guessed that Liu Jilong might know what was going on between him and Bai Minzhong, based on the fact that Liu Jilong had restricted him from buying draft horses several times.

Originally, he had thought of purchasing some draft horses and then interrupting the trade route, but Liu Jilong was now willing to sell riding horses and even promised to sell military horses in the future.

The price difference between riding horses and military horses is not as big as the difference between draft horses and riding horses. If the price of military horses in Longxi is within thirty strings of cash, it is still worth considering.

Thinking of this, Yang Fugong decided to go back and discuss it with Bai Minzhong.

While he was thinking this, Liu Jilong stood up and escorted him out of the main hall, and at the same time sent someone to take him to Yin Hotel.

A business deal was concluded. The business value of 15,000 strings of cash was enough to purchase 2,700 to 2,800 people from Shannan West Road.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong hummed a little tune and walked towards the inner courtyard.

At the same time, Zhang Yichao, who was supposed to be waiting for news in Suzhou, came to Fanhe County in Liangzhou with light luggage and summoned Zhang Huaishen.

"uncle!"

Zhang Huaishen hurried over, and when he saw Zhang Yichao sitting in the Fanhe County government office, his nose suddenly felt sore.

Zhang Yichao's temples were gray, and his facial muscles were a little sagging, making him look much older.

"Thanks a lot……"

Zhang Yichao said this with a sigh. Zhang Huaishen shook his head when he heard it: "How can my nephew's pressure compare to that of my uncle?"

"Okay." Zhang Yichao sighed, "These are not what I want to hear."

"Huai Shen, let me ask you, if you were in charge of Hexi, what would you do?"

"Uncle, what do you mean?" Zhang Huaishen looked up suddenly and thought of the imperial edict at the same time.

"Uncle, considering the strength of the people in Hexi, it is impossible to advance westward!"

"I haven't thought about going west." Zhang Yichao's eyes were complicated, and he continued to ask: "Answer my question first."

"I……"

Although Zhang Huaishen had thought several times in his spare time about how he would perform after taking charge of Hexi, he still hesitated when Zhang Yichao actually asked him.

"Cleaning up the Suo family, restraining the Li family, and working with the court..."

He fell silent halfway through his speech, but even if he didn't say it, Zhang Yichao knew what he wanted to say.

"It seems that I shouldn't have let Liu Jilong leave."

As Zhang Yichao spoke anxiously, Zhang Huaishen buried his head even deeper.

Looking at him like this, Zhang Yichao took a deep breath and seemed to have made some important decision.

"I am going to ask the court to recommend you as the governor of Hexi and ask for your permission to serve in the capital..."

　Thanks to the silver alliance of "Listen to the Wind"!!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)