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

Chapter 518 Huo Xiaoyu

“During my trip to Jianghuai, I adopted a child in Yangzhou, a girl who is only three years old. I found her in a pile of dead bodies by the roadside. She was barely alive and skin and bones. Her parents had starved to death by the roadside while fleeing famine.”

at night,

Huo Yu leaned against Li Yi's chest.

"Yes, take good care of her." Li Yi stroked her beautiful hair. To be honest, too many people have starved to death in recent years, and even cannibalism has become commonplace. People have become numb to it.

"I didn't expect that girl to survive. I hired a wet nurse along the way to nourish her with breast milk, and she slowly recovered. Although she is still thin, she survived."

I want to officially adopt her as my daughter.

"Great! A daughter is a mother's little cotton-padded jacket, close to her body and warm to her heart," Li Yi said with a smile.

Huo Yu turned to look at Li Yi and said very seriously, "I'll be her mother, and you'll be her father, okay?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yi nodded with a smile, "Alright, bring the girl over tomorrow, and I'll officially adopt her as our daughter."

The phrase "our daughter" made Huo Yuxi unable to stop smiling.

In her excitement, she started tearing at Li Yi's clothes.

What are you doing?

"You're so good to me, I'll reward you properly." Huo Yu pounced on her.

Li Yi smiled wryly. To thank her for her hard work in transporting 100,000 shi of grain, Li Yi had rewarded her for three consecutive days, and he was a little tired.

And now you're doing this? It's repaying kindness with enmity!

the next day,
Li Yi felt a little soreness in his lower back and a slight weakness in his legs.

Looking into the bronze mirror, Li Yi felt that the person in the mirror looked much more haggard.

Abstinence from pornography

We can't keep indulging like this.

One cannot indulge in revelry and debauchery every night; one must exercise self-control.

From now on, I'll have to go back every three days at the very least, otherwise even the best body can't handle it.

After washing up,
Huo Yu, on the other hand, fought with increasing ferocity, full of energy and glowing with health. She got up early and personally made breakfast for Li Yi.

Goji berry and lamb kidney soup, boiled eggs, braised sea cucumber with scallions, and mulberry and purple rice porridge.

Li Yi looked at Huo Yu, who was gentle and considerate, and brought him breakfast. He then finished it all in one go.

Even when you're young, you still need to take care of yourself.

After breakfast, Huo Yu brought in a little girl.

Quiet and cautious, with very thin eyes.

"Little girl, from now on we will be your father and mother."

"mother,"

"Yay!"

Although the girl is young, she is very sensible and trusts Huo Yu, who saved her. Even though it was the first time she met Li Yi, she obediently called him "Ye-ye" instead.

"This girl herself said her name is Xiaoyu." Huo Yu liked this child who had the same name as her very much. In fact, she had the idea of ​​saving her and adopting her as her daughter because she was also named Yu'er.

Huo Xiaoyu, what a nice name.

"Little girl, from now on you will take your father's surname, Li, and be called Li Yu'er," Huo Yu said gently as he held her in his arms.

Xie Yu looked at Li Yi and nodded slightly.

Li Yi took out a piece of jade that he had prepared beforehand, "Your name is Yu'er, so this gift is just right."

Huo Yu was very worried when he heard that Li Yi planned to personally lead his troops out of Feihu Road to attack Weizhou.

"Although Gao Kaidao is not a major threat, the Turks are strong and well-equipped. Their route from Dingzhou to Weizhou via Feihu Pass is blocked by the Taihang Mountains, making logistical support difficult and extremely dangerous."

“Gao Kaidao is still in Daizhou. Now is the time to make a move. The best defense is offense. If we don’t attack, the Turks will attack. So we might as well attack instead of defending, and take the initiative to avoid being led by the nose.”

"I'm quite confident about this attack. If we can take Weizhou, we can also support Daizhou and prevent it from being isolated and helpless. As long as we have Daizhou and Weizhou, Jieli won't be able to be too arrogant, and at least Hebei will be safe for the time being."

The situation east of the Taihang Mountains is terrible right now.

We cannot allow the Turks to spread the war to Hebei, otherwise the situation that Li Yi is barely maintaining will collapse.

We must open up new battlefields.

They fought in the western Taihang Mountains, or even seized resources through warfare.

"You don't need to worry too much about me. This isn't my first time on the battlefield. You should rest well in Dingzhou this time. You can also go back to your hometown in Weizhou, or stay with Minister Wen in Weizhou for a while."

Huo Yu said, "Aren't you still short of food? I'll continue to transport food for you."

“The route has been paved, and the relationships with the various managers along the way have been taken care of. Transporting grain will be much easier from now on. Just follow this route. You don’t need to go out in person anymore. You and I can each send some capable managers over.”

The reason for transporting grain from the Jianghuai region to Hebei was primarily due to the current situation. Hebei was experiencing famine, and grain prices were extremely high, making it profitable to transport grain over thousands of miles.

Secondly, Li Yi was in charge of the six prefectures of Dingfu and held great power, which enabled him to come up with a good payment plan. Otherwise, if it were someone else, you could transport grain but not receive payment, and this business would not be viable.

Another requirement is a strong network of connections. Li Yi's power and status, as well as the governors and prefects along the way, are all things that Li Yi can manage.

With the support, or even the participation, of these governors and prefects along the way, there was no need to worry about officials, bandits, or the common people, and the food supply would be secure.

These are all indispensable. The first journey is about clearing the land, which is the most difficult.

The rest is much simpler.

Whether Huo Yu goes or not doesn't really make much of a difference.

In the next few years, Li Yi will continue to transport grain from the south to the north, as Hebei, Hedong, and even the Guanzhong region will experience long-term grain shortages.

Of the three regions of Hebei, Hedong, and Guanzhong, it was actually easier to transport grain to Hebei, since the Grand Canal connected the north and south.

However, the east bank of the Yellow River is blocked by the Wangwu and Taihang Mountains, while the Guanzhong Plain is blocked by the Yellow River's 120-mile-long treacherous shoals, and the Xiaohan Valley is extremely difficult to navigate.

"Since you are going to Shanxi, it's pointless for me to stay in Dingzhou alone. I'll make another trip to Jianghuai. This route is still not sorted out, so I'll sort it out again."

If you plan to do this grain business long-term, you need to be more meticulous.

Especially in Hebei, where land and water transport is crucial, particularly the land transport between several major rivers, it's best to establish warehouses, hire a dedicated group of transport workers, or purchase more slaves to handle the task. It's also necessary to prepare oxcarts, horse-drawn carriages, and other necessities to ensure sufficient land transport capacity.

Huo Yu truly lives up to her reputation as a female steward who fought her way out of the chaos of war.

Even if this grain trading business is done temporarily, it can still be managed in a comprehensive manner.

"Take more guards and servants with you, and be careful," Li Yi instructed.

"Don't worry. You were able to fight your way through thousands of troops on the battlefield. Now, you're just selling grain. How could you possibly capsize? Your banner alone is enough to dominate the three thousand miles of the Grand Canal."

"Better safe than sorry. We're not doing this business just for the money, so we'll take care of the necessary arrangements and be willing to spend the money we need to."
"Be more generous, spend more money, let's all make money together." Li Yi said, putting his arm around her waist, which was completely free of any excess fat.

"I know you're going to all this trouble, but it's all for the stability of Hebei, for the people not to go hungry, and for the imperial court. Making money is just a side benefit," Huo Yu said with a smile. "While you're fighting in Weizhou, remember to capture plenty of prisoners. We've taken so many minerals and so much commercial land; we're short-handed."
"Capture more prisoners, and I'll use bonds to exchange for them, which I can then use to start mining operations and cultivate land."

Late March.

Just as Li Yi was preparing to take the initiative and use offense as a form of defense, the envoy from Chang'an arrived in Dingzhou.

They brought an imperial edict.

The Crown Prince will no longer come to Hebei; he will go to Puzhou to garrison the area and will be reassigned as the Marshal of the Hedong Road Army.

Not only the six general administrations of Hedong, but also the two general administrations of You and Ding in Hebei were placed under the jurisdiction of the Crown Prince's military governor.

There was also a series of major personnel reshuffles in Hebei and Hedong.

Li Yuan, the Prince of Lujiang, whom Li Yi despised the most, was finally dismissed from his post as Grand Governor of Youzhou. However, he was not succeeded by Wang Junkuo, even though Wang Junkuo had seized the three prefectures of Gaokaidao.

However, he performed poorly at the beginning of the Gao Kaidao Rebellion, and he was also implicated in Lu Shijun's two defeats.

The result was that he was neither punished nor rewarded, and remained the Chief Administrator of the Youzhou Grand General's Office and concurrently the Governor of Jizhou.

A person no one expected was appointed as the Grand Steward: Prince Li Daoxuan of Huaiyang.

This eighteen-year-old prince of the imperial clan once fought alongside Li Yi in Hedong and made many contributions. Later, he was appointed as the governor of Xizhou. However, because he was too ruthless towards the Ji Hu and even repeatedly crossed the border to attack Yuan Junzhang and even the Turks, he was transferred by the emperor to be the governor of Luozhou.

It's been less than half a year, and he's already been promoted to Grand Administrator of Youzhou.

Li Yi was also somewhat surprised by this. Firstly, Li Daoxuan was too young, and secondly, Li Daoxuan was very close to him and also had a good relationship with Li Shimin. Why would the emperor send Li Daoxuan to govern Youzhou?
Of course, sending members of the imperial family to govern local areas was also a common practice of Li Yuan.

Li Yi was even more surprised that Li Shenfu had been sent to govern Bingzhou again.

After questioning the angel carefully, I learned some of the inside story.

Dou Cong, the former chief secretary of the Bingzhou Grand General's Office, was seriously ill. At this time, Li Yuan wanted Li Yuanji to return to Bingzhou to guard the city, but even Pei Ji opposed it.

The five chancellors—Left Chancellor Pei Ji, Right Chancellor Xiao Yu, Grand Chancellor Feng Deyi, Yang Gongren, and Attendant-in-Ordinary Chen Shuda—all opposed it.
This doesn't even include Li Shimin, who was concurrently the Grand Secretary and the Grand Chancellor, and Li Yi, who was concurrently the Attendant-in-Ordinary. If you asked them, they would definitely object as well.

Li Yuanji, who was concurrently serving as a court attendant, probably felt embarrassed and didn't have the courage to return to Taiyuan.

Then,
With a formidable enemy at hand, Li Yuan had no choice but to transfer the seriously ill Duke of Qiao, Dou Cong, to Jinzhou in the rear as governor, and send Li Shenfu, the Prince of Xiangyi, who had previously been stationed in Bingzhou, to the same post.

Li Shenfu was Li Shentong's younger brother, the son of Li Yuan's uncle, and a cousin of the same grandfather. He trusted him a lot.

“When Li Shenfu was stationed in Taiyuan, didn’t he have a deep conflict with Liu Shirang? Now that Liu Shirang has been promoted to the governor of Daizhou and Li Shenfu has been appointed to govern Bingzhou, aren’t you afraid that the two of them will have another conflict and cause trouble?” Li Yi couldn’t help but ask.

If there's really no one else available, why don't you send Prince Qin, Li Shimin, to guard Taiyuan? Li Shenfu's abilities are even inferior to Li Yi's uncle, Prince Yi'an, Li Xiaochang.

For Li Yi, it was clear that the Turkic leader Jieli was launching a full-scale attack and was serious this time. Meanwhile, Emperor Li Yuan was still preoccupied with how to suppress the Prince of Qin, how to restrict him, and how to ensure the Crown Prince could gain further military merit and prestige.
It's really making me furious.

How can we defeat the Turks in this way?

Our strength is indeed inferior to that of the Turks, yet you still want to cripple your own capabilities.

The only thing that made him feel slightly better was that the emperor in Hebei had learned some lessons and transferred Li Yuan away, replacing him with Li Daoxuan, who had worked with Li Yi before and had a good relationship with him.

Moreover, although the emperor also placed the two prefectures of You and Ding in Hebei under the jurisdiction of the Crown Prince, he also specially established a new General Commander of the Hebei Circuit for the troops of the two prefectures, with Li Yi serving as the general commander, and Li Daoxuan and Wang Junkuo as deputy general commanders.

In this way, Li Yi will be able to command the troops of Youfu, and even mobilize the money and supplies of Youzhou.

Wang Junkuo also became his deputy commander-in-chief. If that bastard dares to play dirty tricks like Gao Kaidao did, Li Yi can even kill him with one blow and report later.

Shuang Shilu and Dugu Kaiyuan were recalled to the capital. Qin Wutong, Li Xuantong, and Wang Xingmin, the three generals of the Central Guard, were directly reassigned as governors of prefectures. Li Yi didn't care much. Shuang Shilu was a little disappointed, but after all, he was the governor of Dingzhou. As a result, the situation deteriorated, so it can't be said that he was wronged.

Now that he has obtained the seal and token of the General Commander of the Hebei Circuit, and the troops of You and Ding prefectures are under his command, some of the previous plans need to be adjusted.

Previously, Yang Gongdao was sent to Youzhou to ask Li Yuan for 50,000 shi of grain. Now, he can directly issue an order to mobilize it as the general manager of the expedition.

Fifty thousand shi is a bit too little. Wang Junkuo has seized the three prefectures of Tan, Ji, and Ping, and taken away Gao Kaidao's savings accumulated over many years. Now, he is in charge.

An order was immediately issued, requiring the Youzhou General Administration to procure 100,000 shi of grain and fodder within a specified time to supply military needs!

(End of this chapter)