Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 228 Bullying the weak and fearing the strong
"Oh ho!!"

On the tenth day of the eighth month in the tenth year of the Dazhong reign, Lun Kongre, who had caused a cholera epidemic in Helong and had killed all the men in Helong, cut off the nose and feet of the Han people, and pierced babies with spears as a joke, turning the five thousand miles of land in Helong into barren land, was defeated and killed outside the Duomiwei Palace.

The three forces of Li Ji, Hu Siguang, Shang Duoluo, Shang Moyan, Cuoben and Xima decided to use the same brutal torture that Lun Kongre had used in the past on him.

Lun Kongre died after his nose was cut off, his limbs were chopped off, and his chest and abdomen were hollowed out.

His hands were sent to the Tibetan city of Lhasa by Xima of the Duomiwei Mansion, and his feet were taken back to Guzhou by Shang Moyan and given to Shang Bibi to vent his anger.

His body was tied to a cross wooden frame by Li Ji and covered with straw and paraded from Diezhou to Hezhou. Along the way, both the foreigners and the Han people picked up stones and threw them at his body.

If his head had not been taken away by Li Ji for pickling, it would have been smashed by stones beyond recognition.

For a person to offend both the Han and Tibetan people to the point of "eating their flesh and drinking their blood" can be said to be a success in disguise.

"Haha...thanks to the commander for foresight, he sent Shang Duoluo and Cuoben to persuade Xima in advance, otherwise Lun Kongre would probably have run to Pogan (Aba)."

On August 20, in the government office of Linzhou Didao Protectorate, Gao Jinda praised Liu Jilong's methods, and Cui Shu beside him also laughed:
"Marshal Jie's action also avenged hundreds of thousands of people in Helong, and his prestige will be even greater in the future."

"However, I did not expect that Xima would agree to attack Lun Kongre."

The two were talking one after another, but Liu Jilong, who was sitting in the main seat, was in a daze.

After the two men finished speaking, Liu Jilong gradually came to his senses: "Not surprisingly, this Lun Kongre first rebelled against Tubo, then established himself as a great leader, and even wanted to become the king of Tubo. The Tubo people hate him more than we do."

"That's why I expected him to go south, not west."

"Although Tibet is in internal turmoil right now, it is not without strength. It is just that it cannot spare the strength to deal with the enemies around it."

"For Xima, if he kills Lun Kongre, he will get the support of all the royal families. There is no reason for him not to do it."

"What's more, I also promised him that I would never use military force against him in the future. This promise is more important to him."

After he finished speaking, Liu Jilong looked at the two of them and said, "This morning, Chen Jingchong sent back a message saying that the imperial edict from Chang'an had been delivered by him in Weizhou."

"This time, apart from 30,000 rolls of silk and some gold, silver, jade, and brocade, there is no other reward."

"You can reward these things to the brothers who are going to the battle this year according to their merits. The gold, silver, jade and brocade will be awarded to Li Ji and his men."

"Also, since Lun Kongre has been killed, things in Guzhou must be accelerated."

"Although the horse trade in Shannan West Road has been suspended, it will resume soon."

"When the time comes, we will move them to Kuzhou and Shanzhou together with the population obtained from Jiannan Road. We must ensure that Shanzhou has 30,000 people and Kuzhou has at least 20,000 people."

"Shanzhou and Kuzhou have more than 300,000 mu of cultivated land, which can stably pay 50,000 to 60,000 shi of tax grain every year. We must quickly resume production."

After Liu Jilong gave his instructions, Cui Shu took the initiative to bow and said:
"This morning, news came from Lanzhou that the Uighur army of Umu and Ganzhou was approaching Liangzhou, and they were holding an imperial decree demanding that Liangzhou open up to trade."

"Suo Xun agreed to open up the trade, but Zhang Huaishen disagreed and led his army to fight against the Ganzhou Uighurs and the Umos, while Suo Xun just watched from the sidelines."

"Although the Liangzhou Uygurs and Ganzhou Uighurs were repelled, the Hexi Army also suffered many casualties, and..."

Cui Shu paused, Liu Jilong looked at him in confusion, and finally Gao Jinda took over the conversation and said, "Zhang Hexi petitioned the court to come to Beijing to serve as an official due to his old age."

Upon learning the last thing, Liu Jilong couldn't help but be stunned.

Historically, it was the Tang court that made use of Zhang Yitan's death to make a fuss and finally demanded that Zhang Yichao come to Beijing as a hostage.

Now Zhang Yitan is still alive and well, but it was Zhang Yichao who took the initiative to ask to go to Beijing.

Obviously, because of him, the Tang court accelerated the division of Hexi, and Zhang Yichao hoped to use this condition to make the Tang court trust the Hexi Guiyi Army.

Liu Jilong thought this approach was a bit stupid, but everyone has their own choices. What's more, Zhang Yichao had done him a favor, so it was not easy for him to comment.

But he knew very well that even if Zhang Yichao took the initiative to ask to go to Beijing as a hostage, the Tang court would not let go of the Hexi Guiyi Army.

If the Tang court wanted to deal with him, it had to first deal with the Hexi Guiyi Army and leave him isolated and helpless.

If he helped Hexi, it would make the Tang court feel that the relationship between the two armies was even closer.

If they were united and firm in their attitude towards the Tang court, at worst they could be treated like one of the three towns of Heshuo.

It was a pity that neither Zhang Yichao nor Zhang Huaishen was as tough as himself, which exposed the weaknesses of the He and Long armies and gave the Tang court hope of defeating them one by one.

"If Envoy Zhang continues to fight like this, sooner or later all the Han people in Hexi will be wiped out by him."

Liu Jilong gave his evaluation calmly, and Gao Jinda and Cui Shu nodded in agreement.

Zhang Huaishen's military ability is beyond doubt, the problem is that there are too few Han people in Hexi.

There are more than 200,000 people in Hexi, and less than 100,000 of them are Han people.

Although Zhang Huaishen defeated the Ummat and Uighurs several times in recent years, the Ummat and Uighurs were supported by the Tang court. In addition, the Uighurs and Ummat people who continued to migrate eastward from the Western Regions had a population far greater than that of Zhang Huaishen.

Liu Jilian didn’t know how many Han people there were in Hexi, but over the past few years, the number of Han people in Zhang Huaishen must have been declining.

Without the reinforcement of Han people, the Guiyi Army in Hexi would gradually be mixed with Tibetans, Sogdians, Uighurs, Umu, Longjia and other ethnic groups.

If this continues, it is only a matter of time before Hexi collapses.

"Envoy Zhang hopes that we can help him transfer some people from Shannan, Guannei, Jiannan and other places."

Gao Jinda hesitated to speak, but worried that Liu Jilong might misunderstand him, he quickly explained: "But we are also very short of people, so this route..."

"It's not impossible." Liu Jilong interrupted Gao Jinda, which surprised Gao Jinda and Cui Shu.

However, Liu Jilong did not want to cut flesh from himself, but some people really needed to be dealt with.

"How many criminals are there in Longyou?"

Liu Jilong asked the two men, and they looked at each other. Gao Jinda bowed slowly and said, "Three hundred and forty-six people."

Although the laws in Longyou are strict, not many people can be called criminals.

Only those who have committed serious crimes such as murder, rape, adultery, and selling intelligence can be called criminals.

Many of these people were spies of the Tang court, and the rest had committed crimes themselves and it would be a pity to kill them.

Because of this, the Protectorate sent them to the more dangerous mining areas to mine.

Now that Liu Jilong has spoken, it is obvious that he is going to deal with them.

"Send them to Ganzhou via Sanxie Road and Dadoubagu Road, and tell Zhang Yichao that it would be best if these people were sent to the front of the army, and each of them would be exchanged for 200 kilograms of high-quality saltpeter."

Longyou lacks high-quality saltpeter, and it is not cheap to buy it directly, so it is better to use these criminals to exchange for some resources.

Upon hearing this, Gao Jinda and Cui Shu looked at each other and nodded, agreeing with Liu Jilong's move.

"Did Li Ji report the casualties?"

After the business was over, Liu Jilong also asked about the casualties in this battle.

Cui Shu bowed and said, "During this campaign to suppress the rebellion, 76 men died in battle, 52 died of illness, 98 became disabled, and 313 military horses and 570 riding horses were lost."

"If we include the recovery of Shanzhou, the total number of casualties in those two battles was 2,293, 52 died of illness, 263 were disabled, 780 military horses were lost, and 874 riding horses were lost."

"As for the spoils, in the two battles, a total of more than 34,700 dan of grain, more than 600 military horses, more than 2,000 riding horses, more than 3,000 draft horses and oxen, and more than 40,000 herds of livestock were seized."

Among the series of casualties and compensation, illness did not stand out particularly.

Although Liu Jilong and Li Ji had explained the key points of marching on the plateau, when the real fighting started, many soldiers could not adapt to plateau warfare and died of illness. This was also the reason why Liu Jilong did not want to capture Tuyuhun.

There are only tens of thousands of Han people in Longyou. If one wants to occupy Tuyuhun, soldiers and civilians are indispensable.

Even if they could finally occupy Tuyuhun, there would certainly be many casualties in Hankou.

Rather than throwing the limited territory of Hankou into the war with Tuyuhun, it would be better to bide our time and wait for Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty to fall out.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong also felt that Longyou should stockpile grain in preparation for the large influx of population in the future.

He looked at Gao Jinda and Cui Shu and said, "Now that the enemies around us have been mostly dealt with, next year after Shang Bibi gives up Kuzhou, we will manage the horse trade and develop Longyou."

"Yes!" The two bowed in response, and Liu Jilian did not tell them that he also had plans to send troops to Liangzhou.

Liangzhou must be taken, but not from Zhang Huaishen.

Judging from the situation Zhang Huaishen was facing, whether Zhang Yichao left Hexi or not, he would be caught up in an internal struggle with the powerful people in Shazhou.

As long as Suo Xun captured Liangzhou, judging from his previous record in Huizhou, a riot among the Liangzhou barbarians was a foregone conclusion.

By then, Liangzhou would be in his pocket.

However, if Liangzhou is to be kept safe, migrating to Hankou is still the top priority.

First take Liangzhou, and then seek the population of Xichuan during the war between Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty.

As long as these two steps are successful, many subsequent problems can be easily solved.

The prerequisites for taking over Liangzhou have been met, and now we just have to wait for civil unrest in Liangzhou.

However, he still needed to plan carefully for the relocation to Hankou, Xichuan. He had to support Shang Bibi and Shang Moyan, father and son, externally, and store enough food to accommodate the people internally.

Not to mention anything else, just the amount of food needed to resettle the people is not a small number.

He had to support the people for at least three years before he could reap the harvest in the third year.

According to the standard of five shi of grain per year for the rich and three shi per year for the poor, for an average of four shi per person per year, a population of 100,000 would require 1.2 million shi of grain, which would double as the population increased.

Although they were able to reclaim wasteland and plant hemp, beans and other products in the first two years, the yield after the wasteland was cultivated was not high, and the majority of the expenses still had to be borne by the Protectorate.

"How much grain can the Protectorate store every year now?"

Liu Jilong asked the two of them, and Gao Jinda answered without hesitation:
"After paying the military salaries and wages, there was about 150,000 shi of grain left. The granaries in the prefectures and counties were all used to settle the hungry people, so there was not much left."

"Last month, I did some calculations with Army Officer Cui, and found that the stockpile of various millet and wheat grains was no more than 260,000 dan."

In the past two years, a large number of people have migrated to Longyou every year, and all of them need to be supported by the Protectorate until they can be self-sufficient, which costs a lot.

Judging from the surplus tax grain in Longyou, it can only feed more than 30,000 people each year. If there are more, the government will have to buy grain from the people.

However, after the relocation of 30,000 people, these 30,000 people will gradually open up more than 300,000 acres of arable land in the following six years, and permanently increase the tax grain by 60,000 shi.

However, according to Liu Jilian's judgment, Emperor Li Chen might not live for another six years.

Once he passed away, the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao would declare a split, and he obviously would not have enough time to slowly cultivate the land.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong said to Gao Jinda and Cui Shu:

"I plan to build government warehouses in Hezhou, Lanzhou, Linzhou, and Shanzhou. Each warehouse must be able to store at least 500,000 dan of grain."

"What we have to do in the next few years is to go to Jiannan Road and Shannan Road to buy food. At the same time, we should also pay attention to storing food and fill these four granaries and the state and county granaries with food as soon as possible."

With the storage methods of the Tang Dynasty, the four states mentioned by Liu Jilian could store millet for at least nine years and rice for five years.

As for the more humid places like Longnan, millet can be stored for five years at most, and rice for three years.

This method of storing grain at "95% millet and 53% rice" was the common grain storage standard in government warehouses of that era.

Some government warehouses that do not meet the standards do not even reach this standard.

Liu Jilong did not require the standard of "nine millet and five rice" to be met. As long as the corn and wheat could be stored for six years, it would be enough.

"General Jie, we have enough food, why should we buy grain?"

Cui Shu and Gao Jinda were puzzled, and Liu Jilong said, "Our Supreme is already forty-six years old."

"Since Emperor Shunzong, no emperor in the Tang Dynasty has lived past fifty."

"Since the founding of the country, only Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Xuanzong and Emperor Dezong have lived to be sixty or older."

"The Great Master of Dazhong is so young, and he has yet to appoint a crown prince. I'm afraid everyone in Chang'an is thinking about taking sides and competing for the crown prince."

"If the two sides can't come to a conclusion through their debate, then the world of chaos will soon be upon us..."

Liu Jilong came straight to the point, and Gao Jinda and Cui Shu nodded after listening.

After all, since the Qin Dynasty, the reigns of successive dynasties have basically been around 200 years, and the Tang Dynasty has been around for 238 years, which has already surpassed the Eastern Han and Western Han dynasties.

Not to mention that the current situation is not optimistic and there are indeed signs of chaos.

"If we can relocate the hundreds of thousands of hungry people in Huainan here, we will be able to protect ourselves in troubled times."

Gao Jinda was still thinking about the hundreds of thousands of starving people in Huainan, but Liu Jilong shook his head and said, "Hundreds of thousands of starving people are only on paper. The truth is far more than that."

"This..." Gao Jinda was stunned, and Cui Shu was also a little surprised.

Hundreds of thousands of starving people were already a lot for the two of them. If there were really more than that, then the Tang Dynasty would probably have really perished.

Faced with the stunned expressions of the two, Liu Jilong could only shake his head and sigh.

The Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the warlords, but it also survived because of them. It is difficult to evaluate.

"Don't worry about Huainan. Anyway, the traffic to Shannan West Road has stopped. Since it has stopped, use the money to buy food in Jiannan Road."

Liu Jilong gave the two of them instructions, and they gradually came to their senses and bowed in response.

Although there was famine in Huainan and rice was expensive in Guanzhong, the food in Jiannan Road was not expensive.

If Liu Jilian had not been worried about the future blockade by the Tang court, he would not have issued so many policies on reclaiming wasteland and cultivating land.

After all, compared to the laborious work of reclaiming wasteland and cultivating it, it is cheaper to buy grain from Jiannan Road after doing the livestock business.

However, the cheap food in Jiannan Road will only last for a few years. Once the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao fall out, the food price in Jiannan Road will skyrocket. In a dozen years, it will not be an exaggeration to say that there will be starving people everywhere.

While grain prices in Jiannan Road are cheap, we should first fill up four large government warehouses.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong handed the matter over to Gao Jinda and Cui Shu.

A few days later, Lun Kongre's head was delivered to Didao and sent to Chang'an together with Liu Jilian's handwritten petition.

Fortunately, when these two items arrived in Chang'an, it was already August 20th, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, otherwise Li Chen really would not have been able to eat.

It is a good thing, but good things also depend on who handles them.

At least for Li Chen, he did not want Lun Kongre to die at the hands of Liu Jilian.

Sure enough, as he opened Liu Jilian's petition, he soon saw Liu Jilian's boasting about him and the court. It was only thanks to Your Majesty's wisdom that he was able to execute this official and avenge the blood feud of more than 100,000 people in Hexi.

After boasting, Liu Jilian began to cry miserably, for example, how many soldiers and horses were lost, etc., just wanting to get rewards from the court.

The invitation made Li Chen's forehead veins bulge.

Fortunately, he was not taking long-term medicine at this time, otherwise he was really worried that he would suddenly attack Liu Jilong in anger.

"Calm down first..."

Li Chen took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and then looked at the people under the golden platform.

In addition to familiar faces such as Linghu Tao, Lu Jun, Wang Zongshi, and Ma Gongru, there is also a relatively unfamiliar face.

This is Cui Shenyou, the newly appointed Minister of Works and Co-Prime Minister, who was appointed Prime Minister just after the Mid-Autumn Festival and became one of the prime ministers.

Li Chen did not pay too much attention to Lu Jun and Cui Shenyou, but instead turned his attention to Linghu Tao.

"Liu Jilong, the governor of Longyou, requested the governor to present the banner to the governor, and requested the court to issue rewards and relief. What do you think?"

Although Li Chen said this, his eyes did not move.

Ma Gongru, Wang Zongshi and other four nobles did not care about the matter and kept aloof.

Linghu Tao glanced at Lu Jun, but saw that he ignored her gaze and said nothing.

Seeing him like this, Linghu Tao could not help but feel resentful, while Cui Shenyou said, "Liu Jilong has now recovered the entire territory of Longyou, which is no different from holding the imperial seal. Why not grant him the imperial seal?"

Since Liu Jilian stated in his petition that he had recovered the two states of Shankuo and executed Lun Kongre, Cui Shenyou and others believed that he had recovered the entire Longyou territory.

In this case, whether he remains loyal or not is no longer an issue.

But even so, Li Chen still didn't want to grant Liu Jilong the banner, so he didn't respond, but turned his attention to Linghu Tao.

In this regard, Linghu Tao could only take a deep breath and said: "The banner and staff cannot be given to him, but we can give him more rewards to appease his ambition."

"What do you think the reward should be?" Li Chen responded. Now everyone knew the emperor's attitude.

Cui Shenyou was eager to show off, so he bowed and said, "You can reward them according to the standards of the past when we recovered the three states."

"I'm afraid this won't satisfy Liu Jilong's appetite." Linghu Tao shook his head in rejection, then bowed and said:

"Why not appoint him as the Minister of War, General of the Cavalry, Grand Protector of Longyou Protectorate, and Founding Duke of Longxi County, and reward him with 200 pieces of colored brocade, 500 pieces of brocade, 150,000 pieces of silk, and 50 pieces of gold, silver, and jade?"

After hearing what Linghu Tao said, Li Chen felt a little painful, but he also knew that he would have to pay a lot to appease Liu Jilian.

Thinking of this, Li Chen took a deep breath and said, "I will draft the imperial edict according to your words."

"In addition, I heard that Zhang Yichao, the governor of Qixi, requested to enter Chang'an to serve as an official, but his application was detained. Is this true?"

"Your Majesty, I ordered you to stay here." Linghu Tao answered the question first, then explained:
"This move may not be Zhang Yichao's attempt to test the imperial court. It is better to wait and see for now."

"If he is interested in entering the court, he will naturally ask for permission again and again. It won't be too late to agree then."

Li Chen nodded when he heard this, then frowned and said, "Zhang Yichao's loyalty is evident, but Zhang Huaishen's intentions are unclear, so we need to observe him carefully."

Linghu Tao was unsure what the emperor meant by observation and wanted to ask for instructions, but then he thought that the emperor would not give an explicit answer, so he could only bow in response.

"I will follow your instructions and carefully observe Zhang Huaishen's actions in Hexi..."

　Sorry for the late review.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)