A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 493 Stealing a Wife
"Youzhou, what a magnificent city."

Prince Li Kaidao of Beiping reined in his warhorse and looked out over the famous Hebei city that stood on the plain.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Youzhou has always been governed from Jicheng.

General Xie Ling said, “This city is nine li from north to south and seven li from east to west, with ten gates and a circumference of thirty-two li. There are thirty-two wards and two markets in the city.”

Dou Jiande once dominated Hebei and attacked Youzhou City many times, each time with more than 100,000 troops, but he was always defeated by Luo Yi.

If Dou Jiande had captured Youzhou, he could have easily dismounted, crossed the Yellow River, and marched into Henan, instead of watching Wang Shichong of Luoyang be destroyed by the Li Tang dynasty in Guanzhong.

Gao Kaidao surveyed the magnificent city, his eyes filled with a desire to possess it.

Not to mention Dou Jiande, even he, who had been Luo Yi's neighbor for several years, had always longed to seize this magnificent city.

Unfortunately, Luo Yi was already famous on the border during the Daye Dynasty, and his five thousand Youzhou cavalrymen made him, a salt farmer whose family had made a living by boiling salt for generations, dare not make any rash moves.

The city still stands, but Luo Yi has been left behind in Guanzhong.

Although he returned to Hebei this time, it was still because Jieli had invaded the border. However, the imperial court issued an edict that took away his Beiyan Prefecture and Tan Prefecture and reassigned him as the governor of Ying Prefecture, leaving him with the three prefectures of Ying, Ping, and Ji.

He had feigned allegiance to Gao Tansheng in Beiyan Prefecture, bringing 5,000 armored cavalry to join him. Later, he spent three months finding an opportunity to kill the bald monk Gao Tansheng in one fell swoop, destroy his Mahayana Buddhist kingdom, and annex his Beiyan Prefecture and his troops.

Now, with just a word from Li Yuan, they want to take it all, including Tanzhou.

He was to reorganize his troops, assigning 5,000 armored soldiers to the Youzhou Governor's Office, while he himself had to move to Liaoxi outside the pass.

He believed that as long as he obediently went to Yingzhou and handed over the five thousand elite soldiers, it wouldn't be long before the imperial court issued an edict to transfer him to Henan or Jianghuai.

He was not reconciled.

From a salt farmer who boiled seawater to a regional overlord, he knew all too well that without territory and troops, he was nothing.

Even in his youth, he was very ambitious and unwilling to spend his life boiling salt. He followed people to sell salt and could run as fast as a galloping horse. When the great chaos broke out, he led a group of salt-selling brothers to seek refuge with Geqian in Douzigang.

Later, they marched north from Pingyuan County all the way to Yuyang and finally conquered their own territory.

Now Li Yuan can just take it away whenever he wants?
In Youzhou in the twelfth lunar month,
The north wind is biting.

Although the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains block the northwest winds, they cannot block the winds blowing from the Bohai Sea.

The massive city of Youzhou was shrouded in a curtain of lead-gray iron.

The banners on the city wall fluttered in the wind.

"If Luo Yi were still guarding Youzhou City, I wouldn't dare to make any rash moves. But Li Yuan, well, he's an incompetent fool from the imperial clan. Just because he's the son of Li Yuan's sixth uncle, he's directly appointed as the Grand Governor of Youzhou."

"Bah! Does Li Yuan even deserve to call this magnificent city worthy?"

Zhang Jinshu, the general of the Ya Army, immediately chimed in, "Your Majesty, if we enter the city and kill Li Yuan, Youzhou City will be ours. Then we can ally with the Turks to the north and recruit Dou Jiande's former troops, and Hebei will be ours."

Li Kaidao turned his head and glanced at him. This was his beloved general. Back when he was a salt merchant, this kid followed him and, like him, chased after galloping horses. Over the years, he had become a fierce general and was the person he trusted most.

The eight hundred elite cavalry he brought this time were the cavalry of his own army, commanded by Zhang Jinshu. Among these eight hundred cavalrymen, there were also three hundred adopted sons of Li Kaidao. They were all brave, strong, and young men selected from the army, and they were all from his hometown of Yangxin, Cangzhou.

Li Kaidao, who was born in the sea, claimed to be from the Gao family of Bohai after becoming king, but the Gao family of Bohai did not recognize him as a salt farmer as one of their own. The real Gao family of Bohai would not have been reduced to making a living by boiling salt for generations.

When you go out, your identity is given by yourself.

The Turkic Khagan, Jieli, had already secretly contacted him, offering his full support for him to seize control of Hebei, and even support him to declare himself emperor and establish the Great Yan Kingdom.

Li Kaidao, under the pretense of going to Yingzhou to take up his post, brought only eight hundred cavalrymen from Beiyanzhou outside Junduguan. Passing through Youzhou City, he naturally wanted to enter the city to pay a visit.

"Once we enter the city, we will proceed according to plan."

Zhang Jinshu, Xie Leng, and several other generals responded. They all looked at Youzhou City with great enthusiasm, but they did not pay any attention to Li Yuan, the city's chief steward.

At this moment, in their eyes, this Youzhou city was about to be theirs.

Inside the Grand General's Mansion of Youzhou

This place was once the governor's mansion, then Luo Yi's general manager's mansion, and after he was granted the surname and made a king, it became the Yan County Prince's mansion.

At this time, Li Yuan, the Prince of Lujiang and Grand Administrator of Youzhou, was hosting a banquet for local powerful families and some wealthy merchants.

Li Yuan, who had recently taken office, had no interest in politics and only enjoyed hunting and banquets.

The imperial court has just issued a new decree, further reducing the number of prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Youzhou Grand General's Office. The number of prefectures has decreased from the initial thirty-five to seventeen, then to eight, and now only five prefectures remain: You, Yi, Beiyan, Tan, and Yan.

Li Yuan didn't care about this.
They separated another prefecture, Yingzhou General Administration, from Youfu, and transferred Li Kaidao, the Prince of Beiping, to Yingzhou General Administration, not caring about the fact that he held the imperial insignia and was in charge of the three prefectures of Ying, Ping, and Ji.

At this moment, he was drinking and chatting with a wealthy merchant from Youzhou, and he took a fancy to the merchant's wife, Lady Pei.

A few days ago, he overheard that Lady Pei was incredibly beautiful and played the pipa exceptionally well.

"Lord Tian, ​​the end of the year is approaching, and Chief Secretary Wang is preparing to reward the soldiers. There are six thousand soldiers from the Imperial Guard stationed here, as well as the twelve newly established guards in Beiping. We can't let these brothers who are guarding the border for the country suffer from the cold."

But the treasury is empty, and even the most skilled cook can't cook without rice. I have no choice but to ask you for help.

"Lord Tian, ​​please be generous and lend me ten or eight thousand strings of cash to tide me over this urgent matter." Upon hearing this, Tian Mao cursed inwardly but looked troubled. Since Li Yuan took office in Youzhou, he had already sent several batches of gifts, totaling over a thousand strings of cash.

But now he's asking for another 10,000 or 20,000 strings of cash. Although his family is the Tian family, a prominent clan in Beiping, and he helps the clan manage its businesses, trading salt, horses, furs, and medicinal herbs, the profits are decent, but at most he only makes a few thousand strings of cash a year.

"Your Majesty, the Turks have repeatedly invaded our borders this year, making trade extremely difficult. Several of my family's caravans that ventured beyond the Great Wall have lost everything."

Li Yuan simply smiled at Tian Mao.

Tian Mao gritted his teeth and said, "I am willing to do my part. I will go back and prepare to raise one million coins immediately."

Li Yuan remained silent.

"I am willing to send another 800 shi of grain."

Li Yuan shook her head, "That's too little. At the end of the year, we need to reward the soldiers, reward the officials, and present gifts to the Emperor in Chang'an."
Everyone knows the Tian family of Beiping is rolling in money. So, I won't ask for ten thousand or eight thousand strings of cash; just lend me five thousand strings in cash and three thousand bushels of grain.
Don't worry, it's a loan, not a donation.

I heard that the Prince of Wu'an is borrowing money everywhere in Mingzhou, at an annual interest rate of five percent. I'll do the same.

Tian Mao was already cursing under his breath. He knew, of course, that Li Yi, Tian Liuan, Liu Zhan, Zhang He, and others were issuing bonds in Henan; after all, the Tian family also had businesses in the south. But while their interest rate was indeed only 5%,...

There are plenty of other forms of compensation, unlike this Li Yuan, who is insatiably greedy. He hasn't been here long, but he has already extorted money from everyone he knows.

"Your Majesty."

A guard from the Prince of Lujiang came over and said, “The Prince of Beiping is leading his troops to Yingzhou to take up his post. He has passed through our Youzhou and is now outside the city. He says he wants to enter the city to pay his respects to Your Majesty.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan waved her hand and said, "Oh, they've come at the perfect time. Invite them over for drinks."

"Please also invite the Prince of Beiping's entourage into the city and properly accommodate and entertain them."

When Li Yuan was in Chang'an, he met Li Kaidao several times, all at the Crown Prince's banquets. He knew that Crown Prince Jiancheng valued the three kings on the border and tried his best to win them over. He had long been affiliated with the Crown Prince, so he and Li Kaidao were both on the same side.

He had heard that Li Kaidao was quite capable in battle. Although not as good as Li Yi, he was still quite capable to have established a separatist regime here for several years. Now that the Turks were frequently invading the border, he felt it was necessary to improve relations with the governor of Yingzhou. In case the Turks launched a large-scale invasion, he might need to rely on Li Kaidao's strength.

The guards took the order and left.

At the entrance, they happened to meet Duke Peng, Wang Junkuo.

Upon hearing Li Yuan's order, the chief clerk of the Grand General's Office frowned. He had only come to see Li Yuan after hearing that Li Kaidao had arrived. He had no interest in Li Yuan's banquet and had not attended it today.

"I'll handle this."

Wang Junkuo went to the west gate of Youzhou.

After making some arrangements, he led several officials out of the city to the city gate to welcome Li Kaidao.

"Your humble servant, Wang Junkuo, Chief Secretary of the Youzhou Grand General's Office, is here on behalf of the Grand General to welcome the Prince of Beiping."

Li Kaidao was a little disappointed when he saw that Li Yuan hadn't come out.

"How is the Prince of Lujiang?"

"His Majesty is hosting a banquet for the local powerful families in his residence today and is unable to leave for the time being. Please, Prince of Beiping."

Li Kaidao was going to lead eight hundred cavalrymen into the city.
As a result, Wang Junkuo stopped him, saying, "Your Majesty, it is inconvenient for the troops to enter the city. Please only lead a few followers into the city. I will have someone take these brothers to stay temporarily in the military camp in the south of the city. They will be well taken care of."

Li Kaidao frowned.

"What is the meaning of this? Is this how the Prince of Lujiang treats his guests?"

Wang Junkuo just chuckled and said, "I'm just following the rules. The Prince of Beiping is also an important official of the court. Does he not even understand these rules?"

"You teach me how to do things?"

"I dare not, but as the Chief Secretary of the Youzhou Grand General's Office, I must uphold the imperial system."

Li Kaidao's face darkened when he saw that Wang Junkuo showed him no respect whatsoever, but Wang Junkuo remained unfazed. Wang Junkuo was notorious for his cunning; since the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, he had rebelled and committed countless acts of treachery, including childbirth without an anus.

He had long heard of Gao Kaidao's unruly behavior, after all, he used to be in the Taihang area, not far from Li Kaidao.

Judging others by oneself

Although Wang Junkuo didn't know if Li Kaidao would cause trouble, he still had to be cautious, especially since the Grand Steward Li Yuan was still an incompetent fool.

finally,
Li Kaidao glanced at the faint glint of light flashing on the city wall.

But he did not back down.

"Alright, then I'll trouble Chief Secretary Wang to send someone to take my brothers to the military camp outside the city to rest and have some hot soup to warm them up. I'll go into the city to visit the Prince of Lujiang and then leave."

Wang Junkuo didn't take his mockery seriously.

Li Kaidao only brought Xie Leng and Zhang Jinshu as generals, along with ten of his adopted sons and northern soldiers, into Youzhou City. Li Kaidao looked at Wang Junkuo, who was leading the way, and sneered in his heart. Thirteen riders can still take Youzhou City. When that happens, Wang Junkuo will be the first one killed!

(End of this chapter)