Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 230 Chaos
"If there is nothing else, please leave."

Inside the main hall of the Protectorate, as Liu Jilong explained everything clearly, and seeing that no one had other ideas, he signaled everyone that they could leave.

"I, your humble servant, will take my leave..."

Everyone stood up, bowed, and left one after another.

After the autumn harvest, military pay and salaries still needed to be paid, and Gao Jinda and others were also very busy.

After everyone left, Liu Jilong looked at Li Shangyin who had not left.

"Brother Yishan, do you have something to tell me?"

Liu Jilong asked Li Shangyin, and Li Shangyin bowed without hiding anything and said, "After half a year of study, I have learned a lot about Longyou's systems and policies, so I have some experience."

"Just say it." Liu Jilong nodded, and Li Shangyin also began to comment on the system Liu Jilong established in Longyou.

For Longyou, there was actually no problem with the whole system, because there were not so many forces in Longyou, and the people Liu Jilian expelled were the Tibetans, so he could reasonably take back all the land and divide it equally.

This system is extremely good for the development of Longyou, but if it wants to expand outward, there will be many problems.

"The commander-in-chief is about to retake the entire territory of Longyou. I wonder what he plans to do after retaking the entire territory?"

Li Shangyin tried to speak, and Liu Jilong murmured after hearing it: "Your Majesty has been slow to appoint a crown prince, and now he is old, there may be disasters in the future."

"The current affairs should be to accumulate money and grain, build water conservancy projects, relocate people, and protect the country and the people."

Of course, he couldn't reveal his ambitions, so he still used the old saying.

"If it is just to protect the country and the people, why do we need to let more than 20,000 students learn to read and write and be familiar with articles?"

Li Shangyin shook his head and asked in return, saying, "The cost of studying for these 20,000 students is no less than 100,000 strings of cash each year."

"If it were someone else, they would rather squander the 100,000 strings of cash on themselves than use it to help young people in their country study."

"Six or seven years later, if these 20,000 students graduate, will Marshal Ji let them return to their hometowns to farm?"

"But if they are not neglected in farming, and are recruited to govern the counties, they will probably be enough to govern millions of people."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Jilong realized that Li Shangyin had seen through his thoughts, but he still did not admit it and said:

"I was born a herdsman. When I was in Hexi, Envoy Zhang once told me that literacy is something that only commoners and noble families can afford, and has nothing to do with common people."

"I said at the time that I wanted all children in the world to have access to education, rather than having knowledge monopolized by a small number of people."

"At that time, Envoy Zhang said it was impossible to do, but I said... someone has to try."

"Now, although I cannot let all children go to school, young people over ten years old in Longyou will definitely have books to read."

"When they grow up, they will be able to make a living with their skills thanks to their literacy skills."

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, Li Shangyin said in disbelief: "Will you let them go?"

"If they want, I will." Liu Jilong nodded with a smile.

Li Shangyin looked at him, their eyes met, and finally Li Shangyin couldn't help but say:

"Although I don't know what the commander-in-chief is thinking, these 20,000 scholars are enough to run a country."

He did not mean that Liu Jilian could replace the Tang Dynasty with these people, but that Liu Jilian had the ability to be independent, an ability that the three towns in Heshuo did not have.

Even though the three towns in Heshuo had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and millions of people, they were not able to stand on their own, but Liu Jilian did.

As long as the Tang court can thoroughly investigate the strength of Longyou, those who are knowledgeable among them will definitely regard it as a major threat.

It’s a pity that Liu Jilian’s methods and precautions made the Tang court’s understanding of Longyou only superficial, such as Li Shangyin in the past.

In their view, Longyou had less than 20,000 soldiers and only over 200,000 people under its jurisdiction.

Although there are few vassal states with such strength, they are insignificant.

As long as the emperor is determined and the officials have the means, it is not impossible to suppress Longyou.

Of course, this was the view of the Tang court, but for Li Shangyin, who understood the potential of Longyou.

Longyou is enough to fight a protracted war with the Tang court. Even if the outcome of Longyou is not good, the Tang court will inevitably suffer the consequences.

"The imperial court regards us as enemies. According to Brother Yishan, what is the imperial court's attitude towards Longyou?"

Liu Jilian did not answer Li Shangyin's words, but changed the subject and asked about the court's attitude towards Longyou.

Li Shangyin did not hide this, but said directly: "If they are weak, appease them; if they are strong, destroy them."

"Well said!" Liu Jilong nodded with a smile, not embarrassed by what he said.

But after cheering, he continued to ask: "If the imperial court becomes powerful and tries to encircle and suppress Longyou, what do you think will happen?"

The topics of their conversation gradually became bolder, so Li Shangyin had to start thinking and calculating.

Although Li Shangyin did not know the details of the Tang court's finances, he could guess roughly what they were. After all, he had discussed these issues with Linghu Chu in the past.

If the Tang court wanted to wipe out Longyou, it would be impossible given the current financial situation.

For this reason, the first step before encircling Longyou was to increase finances, and the easiest way to increase finances was to plunder the people.

The problem was that the imperial court had already severely exploited the people. From Guanzhong to Shandong, from Hedong to Jiangnan...it couldn't be said that there were starving people everywhere, but it could be said that there were starving people everywhere.

The people may be able to hold on to a short-term tax increase, but if it continues for a long time, there will inevitably be uprisings everywhere.

Thinking of this, Li Shangyin slowly opened his mouth and said:

"If the imperial court wants to wipe out Longyou, it will definitely increase taxes and then send more troops to the surrounding areas of Longyou."

"In my humble opinion, the imperial court has clearly underestimated the military commander and Longyou."

"If the imperial court wants to encircle and suppress Longyou, not to mention good generals, the number of soldiers alone should be no less than 100,000."

"Based on what I have learned in Dongchuan, recruiting 100,000 troops to encircle and suppress Longyou would cost no less than 300,000 strings of cash per month, or nearly 4 million strings of cash per year."

"Judging from the way the military commander has managed Longyou, even if the imperial court mobilizes 100,000 troops to attack, it will be difficult to take Longyou in the short term."

"As time goes on, Huainan and other places will inevitably be in turmoil, and refugees will rise up everywhere. Even if we take over Longyou, the situation will be difficult to control..."

At this point, Li Shangyin felt that he had spoken too badly of Liu Jilong, and added:

"Even if we take Longyou, we may not be able to take down the governor. The governor can just lead his troops to retreat to Tuyuhun and occupy Tuyuhun to establish his own regime."

"I will not go to Tuyuhun." Liu Jilong interrupted him and said:
"The current supreme ruler wants to mobilize his army against me, but he lacks decisiveness and is worried that he won't be able to defeat me in the short term, so he is focusing on appeasement."

"Even if a new king ascends the throne, he will need to consider the state of the treasury before he dares to take action against me."

"But Longyou's location is indeed important. The imperial court is always going to take action against me. In the end, it all depends on who has more strategic determination."

The location of Longyou is too important for the Tang court to just leave it alone.

The stronger Longyou becomes, the more unstable Guanzhong becomes.

It was for this reason that when Li Shimin first took action against Xue Dong after entering Guanzhong at the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

Liu Jilian is now equivalent to a smaller version of Xue Ju, and the Tang court needs to be extra careful with him.

But no matter what, Tang Ting will eventually take action against him, and he has always been prepared.

Nowadays, many city passes in Longyou are made of rammed earth and bricks. Even if the Tang court obtains the technology of counterweight trebuchet from Suo Xun, it will not be able to defeat him in the short term.

As long as the Tang court cannot capture him in the short term, he has the capital to negotiate peace with the Tang court.

Of course, he hoped that he could defeat the Tang court's offensive and take the opportunity to seize Qin and Feng states.

But before the war broke out, he didn't know whether he could actually do this.

"If the military governor goes to war with the imperial court, he will certainly seek external expansion, and the military governor's system in Longyou may not be applicable to external affairs."

Li Shangyin expressed his idea, and Liu Jilong nodded in approval after listening.

“This system is indeed not applicable to other places, but that is a matter for the future.”

"The art of war emphasizes adapting to local conditions, and the same principle applies to government."

"On this point, Yishan can rest assured that I am not a pedantic person."

Liu Jilong made a promise, and Li Shangyin felt relieved after hearing it.

He was most worried that Liu Jilong was too proud of his talent and would not listen to any advice.

Now it seems that he still underestimated Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong's tolerance is much higher than that of the current supreme being, several levels higher.

"In that case, there is nothing more I can say."

"I am resigning..."

Li Shangyin stood up, bowed and was about to leave, but Liu Jilong raised his hand to stop him and said, "Yishan can go find Gao Changshi and collect his salary first, then go home and rest for a few days."

"Thank you for your concern, Marshal Jie, but I am not tired now. I can't wait to go to the provincial government to handle government affairs." Li Shangyin smiled and declined the leave. Then he bowed to Liu Jilong and slowly left the government office.

After he left, Liu Jilong also walked out of the main hall and took a look at the gloomy sky.

Soon, he composed himself and walked towards the university in Linzhou.

The gate was still vermilion, but there were five more classes and more than 170 more students inside.

Compared with the more than 20,000 students, the students in this university are the ones that Liu Jilong has carefully cultivated.

While thinking, he walked in with the book in his arms. At the same time, Gao Pian from Shanggui County, Qinzhou, also ended the regular meeting of Qinzhou.

The two states of Qin and Long have a population of more than 200,000. With the strength of the two states, they can rival Longyou under the rule of Liu Jilian.

Of course, these are just data on paper. Gao Pian still feels unsure if the real fight breaks out.

Because of this, during the four years he was in office, in addition to training troops, he also built high city walls and reinforced the walls of Wushan, Fuqiang, Shanggui and other cities facing the Longyou states with bricks.

Not only that, he also obtained the drawings and technology of the counterweight trebuchet from Suo Xun.

He knew as well as Liu Jilian that the imperial court would eventually take action against Longyou.

It’s a pity that he waited for four years but never received the imperial decree, while Liu Jilian became increasingly powerful.

A few days ago, he witnessed with his own eyes that the court sent more than 100,000 pieces of silk to appease Liu Jilian, which made him gradually lose hope.

He is now about to turn 36 years old. If the court delays in taking military action against Liu Jilong, he can only stay in the position of governor of Qin and Long states and will not be promoted without any merit.

Thinking of this, he could not help but sigh: "The court has missed the best opportunity to encircle and suppress Liu Jilong. Now Liu Jilong is too big for the court to get rid of."

The candlelight flickered, and Wang Zhongren, Zhang Lin, Lin Ruzhen, Lu Ruyue, Liang Zun and others who were sitting in the hall fell silent after hearing this.

Lun Kongre was sent to Chang'an by Liu Jilong. It can be said that Liu Jilong has dealt with all the forces around him that could threaten him.

It would be unwise to take action against Liu Jilong now.

"This guy is not honest. Otherwise, how can he balance the population in the country?"

Zhang Lin couldn't help but speak, and Wang Zhongren nodded:
"There are only about 40,000 or 50,000 foreigners in Qinzhou. We have spent a lot of effort just to balance them. I don't know how Liu Jilong managed to manage so many foreigners in his territory."

"It's different." Gao Pian shook his head.

"The surrender of the three states and seven passes was originally the result of the leadership of the Han and Fan tyrants. The imperial court naturally could not forcibly seize their land. Therefore, although the Han and Fan people in Qinzhou returned to the embrace of the imperial court, they ultimately did not gain any real benefits."

"Liu Jilong was rampaging in Longyou. Anyone who disobeyed his orders was either beaten to death or disciplined."

"He gave the land to the people in his territory, so naturally the people supported him."

"Give the land to the people?" Zhang Lin said with concern.

Not only him, but everyone present showed a painful expression, even though those lands had nothing to do with most of them.

"Sir, if the imperial court does not mobilize troops against Liu Jilong, then we..."

Liang Zhan asked cautiously, and Gao Pian said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, I have arranged for someone to go to Chang'an to operate it."

"We don't need to worry about what's going on. We can just wait patiently."

Gao Pian had to find a way out eventually. He couldn't sit in Qin and Long states all his life and stare at Liu Jilong.

If he wants to step onto the stage, he must have enough military merit, which is something that the two states of Qin and Long cannot give him.

"How is the situation in Huizhou?"

Gao Pian asked Zhang Lin about this. Zhang Lin bowed and said, "Most of the people in Huining were slaughtered. I heard that the court moved more than 30,000 people from the Tanguts, miscellaneous Hu and Hankou into Huizhou. But Zhang Zhifang doesn't look like someone who can govern Huizhou well."

Gao Pian frowned upon hearing this, and then thought: "If the Fankou and Dangxiang people unite to cause chaos, Zhang Zhifang will not be able to stop them, but we can send troops to help them suppress it."

"If I succeed in suppressing the rebellion, I can be transferred out of here with more justification."

Thinking of this, Gao Pian looked at Wang Zhongren and said, "Pay close attention to the situation in Huizhou."

"Yes!" Wang Zhongren bowed in response, and Gao Pian's mind gradually became active.

During this period, time passed and soon it was the last month of the tenth year of Dazhong.

During this period, Zhang Yichao again requested to enter Chang'an to serve as an official in the capital, but was still detained by Linghu Tao, and Li Chen ignored it.

However, although Li Chen did not promote Lu Jun, who often went on strike, to the official position he wanted, he gave him the title of Prince's Junior Tutor, hoping to cheer him up.

However, Lu Jun ignored Li Chen and continued to claim illness and ignored state affairs, leaving all matters to Cui Shenyou and Linghu Tao.

It would be fine if it happened once or twice, but he has been doing this for more than half a year, which makes Linghu Tao a little angry.

After the winter solstice court meeting, seeing that Lu Jun was still claiming to be ill, Linghu Tao and Cui Shenyou took the initiative to go to the Purple Palace and find the emperor to submit a petition.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Lu is old and sick, please dismiss him from his post as Shangshu Zuo Pushe!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal!"

The two of them were troubled by Lu Jun and reached the same opinion on the matter of dismissing Lu Jun.

Li Chen expressed his understanding of this, but at the same time he couldn't help but blame Lu Jun.

He just wasn't given the official position he wanted, and ended up treating state affairs as a joke. It's better not to have such a person.

"If that's the case, then we should dismiss Lu Jun from his position as Shangshu Zuo Pushe and appoint him as Sikong and Guardian of the Crown Prince."

"Your Majesty the Holy Spirit!!"

Facing Li Chen's handling, Linghu Tao and the other two saluted loudly, and Li Chen also raised his hand and said:
"Let's not talk about this for now. When will the matter of Feng Ao, the governor of Shannan West Road, being transferred to the capital be put on the agenda?"

As Liu Jilian's first discussion on fear became more intense, Li Chen became more and more disgusted with him.

Now that Hexi is in chaos, it is time to take action against Liu Jilong.

"Your Majesty, I think this matter cannot be rushed for the time being. How about delaying it until next year?"

Linghu Tao bowed and expressed his thoughts, but Li Chen frowned and said, "Are you going to delay further?"

He no longer wanted to delay any longer and just wanted to quickly clip Liu Jilong's wings and then force him to take action against the court.

Seeing that he was anxious, Linghu Tao did not dare to delay any longer and just said:

"If so, how about drafting an imperial edict today and temporarily transferring him to the capital as Shangshu Zuo Pushe based on his merits in office to appease Liu Jilong?"

Linghu Tao's way of handling the matter was to dismiss Lu Jun from his post as Shangshu Zuo Pushe and promote Feng Ao to replace him. This not only disgusted Lu Jun, but also made Liu Jilong unable to find fault with it.

Although Li Chen was dissatisfied with the promotion of Feng Ao, he nodded in approval, considering that this would prevent Liu Jilong from finding fault.

Linghu Tao heaved a sigh of relief, while Cui Shenyou said, "Your Majesty, the Minister of Revenue Xiao Ye has been in the Imperial Academy for a long time without any achievements. I request that Xiao Ye be dismissed from his position as Imperial Academy Bachelor."

Cui Shenyou suddenly asked to dismiss others from their official positions, which made Li Chen frown. Instead, Linghu Tao glanced at Cui Shenyou, as if he knew something.

Seeing this, Li Chen nodded and said, "Prime Minister Cui will take charge of this matter. Prime Minister Cui can go and take care of it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will take my leave!"

Cui Shenyou was delighted to see this, and immediately bowed and left the Purple Palace, while Linghu Tao stayed.

Li Chen looked at Linghu Tao and asked, "What do you think of Xiao Ye?"

"Your Majesty, Xiao Ye is from the Lanling Xiao family, a family of nine prime ministers, but he has been an official for many years and there is nothing to be praised for."

Linghu Tao answered truthfully. Li Chen frowned and asked, "What grudge did Prime Minister Cui have against this man?"

"It is said that Cui Xiang and this person had a grudge against each other when they were both in the Imperial Academy, but Cui Xiang should not bear a grudge over such a small matter."

Linghu Tao explained slowly. Li Chen frowned and said after a long pause:

"After the recall of Lu Jun, is there anyone to be nominated for election?"

"This..." Linghu Tao couldn't think of a candidate for a moment, and Li Chen said:

"Xiao Ye is not a bad person."

"I understand." Linghu Tao was familiar with the emperor and knew that the emperor wanted to promote Xiao Ye to check and balance Cui Shenyou, so he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Whether it is Cui Shenyou or Xiao Ye, they are far inferior to Bai Minzhong and Pei Xiu in terms of ability.

Instead of employing these people, it would be better to re-employ Bai Minzhong and Pei Xiu.

Of course, Linghu Tao only dared to think about these words in his heart, as speaking them out loud might anger the emperor.

Thinking of this, he bowed respectfully and then left the Zichen Hall.

After he left, Li Chen took a deep breath and then looked at the eunuch in the corner.

"It is said that the imperial physician Li Yuanbo has brought long-term medicine into the palace..."

(End of this chapter)