Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 270: The Dragon Grows Old

"Yishan, what do you think of this poem?"

After reading a poem "Liupanshui", Liu Jilong turned around and looked at Li Shangyin.

Li Shangyin chuckled when he heard this: "Although the rhythm is flawed, the scene and the mood blend well, and the strength and softness complement each other, it is still a good word."

"If I am not mistaken, this poem should be composed using the two tunes of 'Qingyue' and 'Pingyue' from the Han Dynasty Yuefu."

"Indeed!" Liu Jilong did not hide it. Li Shangyin nodded and chuckled without commenting any more.

Liu Jilong thought that his changes made the poem "Qing Ping Yue Liupan Mountain" become inferior, so he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, thinking that he had ruined the poem.

But while he was sighing, Li Shangyin was savoring the content of the poem.

For him, poetry is undoubtedly the emotions released from the author's heart.

Because of this, in this poem written by Liu Jilong, his focus is all on two places...the Great Wall and the Canglong.

The Tang Dynasty also built the Great Wall, but in Li Shangyin's opinion, Liu Jilian was well-versed in history books, and the Great Wall he was referring to was probably not an ordinary Great Wall.

The Great Wall he was referring to was probably the one that was built by Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong when Emperor Wuzhou of Tang conquered Taiyuan, the northern capital of the Tang Dynasty.

Combined with the sentence "Today I have a long rope in my hand, when will I tie up the blue dragon?", Li Shangyin couldn't help but feel refreshed.

In his opinion, Liu Jilian was trying to be like Liu Wuzhou, to pressure the imperial court and capture Canglong.

The so-called Canglong is Tai Sui. The alchemists consider the place where Tai Sui is located to be an unlucky direction, and therefore call Tai Sui an evil god.

What Liu Jilian expressed was probably that the current emperor is an evil dragon and should be captured.

The whole poem is analyzed and translated into vernacular Chinese, which is nothing more than:

The sky is high and vast, with clear white clouds, and the geese flying south can be seen at the horizon.

Anyone who doesn't climb the Great Wall of Beidu is definitely not a hero. In total, he has fought for 20,000 battles.

The majestic peaks of Qilian Mountains rise again, and the strong west wind blows the red flags.

Today I hold the long rope in my hand. When will I be able to tie up the mad dragon of the Jiang family?
Li Shangyin was excited. In his opinion, Liu Jilian was expressing his stance to him and his attitude towards fighting for the world.

The fact that he could see this attitude showed that Liu Jilong already regarded him as his own.

Thinking of this, Li Shangyin immediately bowed and expressed his attitude: "Yishan is willing to follow the general to conquer the world!"

"Ok?"

Liu Jilong didn't understand why Li Shangyin suddenly said this, but he already had this idea, so he nodded and said, "That's very good."

Seeing this, Li Shangyin became more certain of his idea, and then followed Liu Jilian back to the city gate.

While they were away, more than a hundred military officers were registering the Umu people, and now more than 20% of them have been registered.

The first thing Liu Jilian did after returning to the city gate was to order Dou Bin to lead 500 elite cavalry to escort Dugazhi, Chengle and others to Dangzhou.

As for the subsequent Umu people, after being registered, they will be dispersed to various states to graze, and gradually reclaim wasteland for a living in the process of grazing.

The registration process took more than half a month. While the people in the city were registering, they were also carrying out spring ploughing in Guzang.

With this group of people, although the spring ploughing started too late, 70% to 80% of the cultivated land in Liangzhou was still plowed.

After the spring plowing was completed, the total number of Emu and the foreigners was also clearly identified.

There were more than 38,600 Tibetans, more than 77,300 Umu people, and more than 21,100 captured Uighurs in Liangzhou.

If the subsequent migration to Hankou is included, the total population is more than 164,000.

There were originally more than 380,000 people under the jurisdiction of Longyou Protectorate. With the addition of 130,000 Hu people, the population exceeded 510,000.

Although the ratio of Han, Hu and Fan people was not unbalanced, it was barely maintained stable.

In response, Liu Jilian relocated 20,000 Uighurs, 10,000 Tibetans, and 50,000 Umu people to Chengzhou, Wuzhou, Weizhou, Lanzhou, and Min, Die, Tao, and Kuo states.

An average of 10,000 Hu people were moved into each state. In addition, money was spent on horse trade from Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road, and these bought people were moved to Liangzhou.

After doing all this, Liu Jilong ordered Zhang Chang to lead the army to migrate the 80,000 Hu Fan into the Longyou area in batches, and ordered Cao Mao to lead 800 elite cavalry and 1,000 infantry to stay in Liangzhou, and recruit another 1,600 elite cavalry and 2,000 infantry.

As the influence of the Longyou Protectorate expands, the military garrison system will also change accordingly.

The original military town system was one town, three armies, nine regiments, eighteen brigades, thirty-six teams, and one hundred and eighty groups, with a total strength of one thousand eight hundred people.

After the changes, the military town system became one town, three armies, nine regiments, twenty-seven brigades, eighty-one teams, and four hundred and five groups.

Each town had more than 4,500 combat soldiers. In addition, there were also military personnel brigades, military medical brigades and cook brigades, with a total of 4,500 soldiers.

The Protectorate newly established Liangzhou Town and Hexi Town, which were in charge of Liangzhou and the northern Xiutu Lake and Baiting Sea.

Theoretically speaking, there are 56,700 combat soldiers in the 14 garrisons under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate, totaling 63,000 people.

However, considering that Longyou does not have such great defense pressure today, except for the expansion of six towns including Cheng, Wu, Song, Liang, Lin and Wei, the remaining eight towns still maintain their original organization.

Including the military officers of the Protectorate, the total number of soldiers and horses in the fourteen garrisons was 42,000.

Just by recovering Liangzhou, the military strength in Longyou nearly doubled.

Although it is still less than the 75,000 soldiers under the command during the heyday of the Tianbao period, if the army is expanded urgently, at least 63,000 soldiers can be mobilized.

But that time was probably the most difficult time for Longyou.

Before that, Liu Jilong had to think carefully about how to solve the military pay problem for these 42,000 soldiers.

Because of this, the issue of the Silk Road was put on the agenda. Liu Jilong wrote a letter to Zhang Huaishen, asking him to send merchants to communicate with Zhongyun, Khotan and other countries to sell spices along the southern route of the Silk Road.

Commercial goods that had previously been piled up in Lanzhou are also being transferred to Liangzhou and shipped to Ganzhou.

Liu Jilong personally stayed in Liangzhou, hoping to complete the first business after reopening the southern route of the Silk Road before autumn.

At the same time, the Tang Dynasty east of Longshan fell into chaos.

Due to insufficient money and food, Pei Xiu and Cui Xuan were unable to suppress the rebel forces of Wang Shouwen and Qiu Fu as planned.

Pei Xiu confined Wang Shouwen to Puzhou, and Cui Xuan confined Qiu Fu to Taizhou, Mingzhou, Chuzhou, Wuzhou and other places in eastern Zhejiang.

On the tenth day of May, Wang Jinghuai, the general of the Huainan Army, urged the Huainan troops to demand that Cui Xuan reward the three armies to relieve the soldiers' homesickness.

Cui Xuan negotiated with them, hoping to reward them after defeating Qiu Fu. When the Huainan soldiers heard that Cui Xuan would not give them rewards, they stopped in Yue and Mu states.

Qiu Fu seized the opportunity and went south to capture Wenzhou.

When the news reached Chang'an, Li Chen, who had not attended court for half a month due to illness, had to drag his sick body to organize regular court sessions.

"Your Majesty, the Huainan troops are arrogant. If their request for rewards is not met, Minister Cui may find it difficult to control them."

In the Xuanzheng Hall, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Jiang Shen spoke with a worried look on his face, and Li Chen also coughed and asked:
"Is it true that the court has run out of money and food?"

"Your Majesty, there are only over 100,000 coins and silk." Jiang Shen replied helplessly:
"This number may not be enough to meet the needs of Huainan's troops."

"Even the summer grain income is only two million."

"After the salaries of all officials are paid, the remaining amount may be no more than 300,000..."

Compared with the huge military expenditure, the expenditure on officials' salaries is not worth mentioning at all.

Upon hearing this, Li Chen immediately asked, "Is there any way to solve this problem?"

"Your Majesty..." Jiang Shen hesitated for a moment, then said:

"The only way to deal with this matter is to increase taxes, otherwise we will not be able to suppress Qiu Fu's rebellion."

“Increase taxes?”

“Are we going to raise taxes again?”

"The people are suffering. If we continue to increase taxes, then..."

As soon as Jiang Shen finished speaking, there was a faint sound of discussion in the hall.

Even though the sound was very small, it was still amplified by the structure of the Xuanzheng Hall.

"I cannot bear the suffering of the people."

Li Chen's face showed pain, as if he couldn't make a decision.

Seeing this, Jiang Shen remained silent, and all the officials kept silent as well, which made Li Chen embarrassed.

"Cough cough..."

He couldn't help coughing a few times and looked at Xiao Ye and Linghu Tao.

Xiao Ye had no good idea either, so Linghu Tao could only sigh and walk out: "Your Majesty, if we cannot quickly put down Qiu Fu's rebellion, then the taxes from Liangzhe in summer and autumn will not be able to be transported to the capital."

"When the imperial court is short of money and grain, we will still have to increase taxes."

"I think that we should temporarily make the people suffer by increasing the summer tax by 6 cents, so as to suppress the likes of Qiu Fu and Wang Shouwen."

"When the bandits are pacified, the six cents and the original three cents tax will be abolished."

After Linghu Tao spoke, all the officials looked at each other in bewilderment. After choosing between two options, they had no choice but to bow to Li Chen and say, "Your Majesty, please make the decision!"

Li Chen coughed a few times, then looked at Jiang Shen: "What do you think, Mr. Jiang?"

"This..." Jiang Shen wanted to say that the people might not be able to bear the consequences of a 6% tax increase. After all, he knew very well what kind of people his officials were.

If the imperial court raises taxes by 6 cents, they might dare to raise taxes by 2 cents.

By then, the people will flee and bandits will appear everywhere, and the consequences will probably be difficult to deal with.

But when the words came to his lips, he still had to consider the reality and nodded in response: "If so, it should be done."

"Yeah," Li Chen nodded, then nodded:
"In that case, we will increase the tax by 6 cents, and add another 9 cents on salt, iron, wine, tea, etc."

"Your Majesty the Holy Ming..."

After all the officials sang, Li Chen was satisfied and left the court.

He returned to the Purple Palace, where the fifteen-year-old Prince of Kui Li Zi was already waiting, with four powerful eunuchs, Ma Gongru, Wang Guichang and Wang Jufang, standing behind him.

Wang Zongshi escorted Li Chen back to the palace. When he saw this scene, his face suddenly darkened.

It’s a pity that the emperor was by his side, so he couldn’t get angry.

He could only watch as King Kui came forward and helped Li Chen walk into the side hall. "Father, I have prepared some medicinal food for you to clear your lungs and reduce internal heat."

"Shiro is really thoughtful..."

Li Chen sighed for his own Silang, and was then taken to a side hall by him to recuperate.

Wang Zongshi wanted to follow him in, but was stopped by Ma Gongru: "Lieutenant Wang, you should guard the Purple Palace. His Royal Highness Prince Kui is serving in the side hall."

"Hmph!" Seeing that the three men were determined to stop him, Wang Zongshi snorted coldly and walked away.

However, he did not leave the Daming Palace, but instead went to find Wang Zonghui who had just returned to Chang'an.

Due to the tense situation on the eastern front, the Right Shenwu Army led by Zhang Huaiquan and Wang Zonghui had to withdraw to Chang'an.

Wang Zonghui didn't expect that he would end up suffering from the wind and sand in Huizhou for most of half a year, and he was really depressed.

Seeing Wang Zongshi's grim expression, he immediately bowed and said, "Big Brother."

"Well, go to Prince Yun's mansion and tell him that if he doesn't want to lose the Golden Platform, he should come to the Purple Palace earlier to take care of His Majesty's daily life."

Wang Zongshi explained to him with a cold face, and at the same time did not forget to add that Kui Wang Li Zi had obtained the support of Ma Gongru, Wang Jufang, Wang Guichang and the right lieutenant of the Shence Army Wang Maoxuan.

Wang Zongshi did this to tell Li Wen how unfavorable the current situation was to him.

If you don't want to lose the throne, you must work hard and win the emperor's favor.

After hearing this, Wang Zonghui realized how bad the situation was, so he quickly agreed and rushed to Prince Yun's Mansion.

Although Li Chen preferred Kui Wang Li Zi, he was not bad to Li Wen either.

The Prince of Yun's Palace was built magnificently. The mansion alone was enough to support thousands of soldiers for a year, not to mention the gold, silver and jewelry inside the mansion.

"Li Zi is so eager to flatter, just for the golden throne."

"Ma Gongru, Wang Guichang and others deserve to die!"

In a side hall of Prince Yun's Mansion, Li Wen cursed Li Zi and Ma Gongru and others behind him in front of Wang Zonghui.

Compared to being cautious in his words and actions outside, he can finally let go of a lot of his nature inside the mansion.

Having been suppressed for too long, he did not dare to act unruly in front of Li Chen and could only act unruly in his mansion.

However, he was only unbridled for a moment, and then he bowed to Wang Zonghui and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Your Excellency. I already know what is going on here, and I will go to the Purple Palace now."

"Yes," Wang Zonghui nodded, and then instructed: "Your Highness, it would be best if you bring some cough suppressant medicine with you. Your Majesty may be suffering from lung disease."

He didn't dare say it was lung disease because the emperor was very averse to others saying that he was sick.

In his opinion, he was currently going through the difficult times that the imperial physician Li Yuanbo had mentioned.

As long as he can overcome the difficulties, he will live a long life and continue to hold the highest power in the Tang Dynasty.

"Thank you for your hard work, Your Excellency."

Li Wen bowed again. At this time, a woman in gorgeous silk clothes came forward with two maids, each holding two paintings in her hands.

"Your Excellency, thank you for your hard work. I heard that you like Wu Daozi's calligraphy and paintings. I specially prepared this for you. Please accept it."

"How did this happen?"

Wang Zonghui knew nothing about calligraphy and painting, but he knew that Wu Daozi's calligraphy and paintings were very valuable and worth a fortune.

The value of these two paintings and calligraphy is at least two thousand strings of cash.

"If the prince does not accept it, how can I ask him to run errands for me?"

Li Wen pretended to be angry, and Wang Zonghui took advantage of the situation and immediately accepted the calligraphy and painting: "I would rather obey your order than to ask you to do so. However, I am sorry to trouble you, Your Highness, to spend money."

"As long as the prince likes it, what does a little money matter?"

Li Wen bowed to Wang Zonghui, who agreed, "If that's the case, I'll accept the offer."

"Your Highness is eager to enter the palace. If my carriage and horses are seen by Ma Gongru and others, it will inevitably tarnish your reputation."

"I will take my leave first. Your Highness, please do not forget to come to the palace after I leave."

"Goodbye, Lord Wang." Li Wen was polite to Wang Zonghui, who appreciated it very much.

After Wang Zonghui left, he put away his expression, sighed and looked at the woman in gorgeous clothes:

"This is a difficult matter. Silang is favored by Aye. Even if I want to fight for him, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed."

The woman shook her head when she heard this: "If Your Highness doesn't believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?"

"I have prepared medicinal food. As long as Your Highness takes a trip to the Purple Palace, you will know how the Supreme Master feels about you."

Li Wen hesitated, but before he could speak, a girl about four feet seven or eight inches tall came over and grabbed the corner of his sleeve and tugged at it.

"Aye De Live..."

The girl's voice was childish. Li Wen squatted down quickly after hearing it, with a kind and happy smile on his face, unlike his usual cautiousness.

"Since Nannan asked, then Aye must live."

He reached out his hand and carefully pinched the lesbian's cheek.

The girl is very pretty, with a pair of big black and white eyes and long eyelashes. She seems to be able to speak, which makes her very lovable.

"I'll take Nannan with me."

Li Wen looked at the woman, and she nodded and said, "Okay, the Supreme likes Nannan, you can take her with you."

"Yes!" Li Wen picked up Nannan and said with a smile:

"Nannan, Aye will take you to see Yeye. You must speak nicely when the time comes."

"Well, Nannan knows..."

The girl's laughter was as sweet as a silver bell, dispelling the depression Li Wen had been feeling for the past few days.

It seemed that every time he saw his daughter, he would feel surrounded by happiness and forget all the bad things.

"Let's go see Yeye..."

He walked out holding his daughter in his arms. The laughter of father and daughter could be heard continuously. Even on the way to Daming Palace, the father and daughter had their own ways of entertaining themselves and joking.

They can spend half an hour just making simple faces.

They walked and chatted all the way until the carriage was stopped by the Jianfu Gate Guards. Li Wen then hushed to Nannan:

"You are about to enter the palace, so you have to behave yourself."

"Yeah!" Nannan nodded in response, then took Li Wen's hand and walked out of the carriage.

Nannan was as tall as Li Chen's chest. Although she was only ten years old, she was very pretty and had a charming appearance, so she was well-liked by the concubines and the emperor in the palace.

Even the soldiers of the imperial guards couldn't help but look at her a few more times when they saw her, wishing their own daughters could be like that.

Li Wengang took her hand and walked towards the Zichen Palace, and soon they arrived in front of the palace.

"His Royal Highness Prince Yun and the Princess of the County are seeking an audience!"

When Ma Gongru saw Li Wen coming with his daughter, he thought something was not good, but he did not dare to stop them and could only pass the message.

"Da Lang and Nan Nan are here, come in..."

Li Chen's voice was heard in the side hall. Upon hearing it, Li Wen hurriedly took his daughter into the side hall.

Inside the hall, Li Zi was feeding Li Chen medicinal food, which made Li Wen feel that the medicinal food in his hand was meaningless.

Before he could react, Nannan let go of his hand and trotted towards Li Chen.

"Yeah yeah, Nannan, I haven't seen Ye ye for a long time, I miss Ye ye so much!"

Nannan threw herself into Li Chen's arms. Upon hearing her words, Li Chen suddenly felt that his cough had improved a lot and his heart almost melted.

"Hey, Nannan, if you miss Yeye, why didn't you come to see Yeye for so long?"

Li Chen held Nannan on his lap and then looked at Li Wen: "Is it that your father doesn't want you to see Yeye?"

Li Wen was sweating profusely when he heard this, but Nannan shook her head and said, "No..."

"I heard that Yeye was sick. Aye has been praying for Yeye in the Buddhist temple these days and hasn't had a good rest for several days."

"Nannan wants Aye to rest more so as not to trouble Aye."

Nannan's words made Li Chen look at Li Wen twice more, and Nannan continued:
"Aye lied to Nannan, he said Yeye was sick."

"Oh? Ye Ye doesn't look like he's sick?" Li Chen became interested.

You should know that ever since he fell ill, his temper has been unpredictable. If anyone said that he was sick, he would deal with it severely, even beating his servants to death.

But in Nannan's mouth, he could discuss the illness in a kind manner.

Facing his question, Nannan shook her head, put her hands on Li Chen's face and touched upwards: "Ye Ye is not sick, Ye Ye has horns on his head."

"Horns?" Li Chen reached out and touched it, but found nothing: "How can a human have horns?"

Nannan smiled as if her plan had worked and said, "Because Ye Ye is a dragon!"

"You little girl..." After being teased by Nannan, Li Chen felt much better and immediately looked at Li Wen kindly:

"You, you taught her a lot of nonsense."

Seeing this, Li Wen nodded repeatedly, Li Zi frowned slightly, and Ma Gongru and others looked very ugly.

"Yeah, let me show you a trick."

"Okay, show it to Yeye..."

"Change!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The silver bell-like laughter echoed in the side hall, and Li Chen felt as if he had returned to a few years ago when he was strong and powerful.