The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 612 Tongguan
Seeing Hu Cheng nodded, Li Yan continued: "In this way, Madam Suian is also half a mother, and we are also brothers."

"I dare not, Your Highness. This..." Hu Cheng was a little frightened.

Li Yan patted Fatty Hu on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Then we are family. Now the emperor has entrusted me with the task of opening up the canal and transferring grain and grass. You must help me get this done."

"That's natural."

Hu Cheng patted his chest and assured: "Your Highness, the Emperor has long ago ordered me to fully cooperate with you in handling the issue of food and grass circulation, not to mention that we have a deeper relationship. You are Hu Cheng's master."

"You can give orders as you like, but how dare Hu Cheng disobey orders?"

"Um"

Li Yan put his arm on Hu Cheng's shoulder, pulled Hu Cheng to the side, and whispered what to do next. Hu Cheng's eyes became brighter and brighter as he listened. Later, he was a little embarrassed, but finally nodded and promised to get it done and live up to the prince's trust.

After Li Yan finished instructing Hu Cheng, he didn't want to check any further, so he left the warehouse with his men and returned to the East Palace.

Having watched the original drama, he of course knew that the emperor still had 400,000 dan of grain in Taicang, but Li Yan did not want to transfer it. He knew that only when he had no other choice would Hu Cheng follow Li Shimin's order to help him save face.

Using grain to store up grain was actually an admission of his own incompetence, so Li Yan never even thought about it.

Tongguan is located at the eastern end of the Guanzhong Plain and is the junction of Guanzhong, Hedong and Henan.

It is connected to Lingbao in Hedong in the east, Guanzhong in the west, Qinling Mountains and Luonan in the south, and the confluence of the Yellow River, Weihe River and Luohe River in the north. Tongguan is the eastern gate of Guanzhong area and the throat connecting the Central Plains. In the Tang Dynasty, a large area in the east of Tongguan belonged to Hedong, and its geographical location was very important.

When Li Yan stood on the city wall of Tongguan, it was already the next morning. Chang'an City was nearly three hundred miles away from Tongguan, and he had rested for a night in Weinan County.

It was the first time that Li Yan visited Tongguan in broad daylight and saw with his own eyes this magnificent pass that has influenced people for thousands of years.

Tongguan has three important gate towers, which are lined up between two steep mountains. Standing on the easternmost tower and looking out, you can see the surging Yellow River to the north, the corner of Qilin Mountain in front, and the Honggou chasm in the distance. It is the only gate to enter the pass from Shandong. It is extremely steep and dangerous, and it seems like "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it."

The gate tower at the east gate of Tongguan City looks like a tiger crouching at the pass, which is intimidating.

When entering the pass, you climb up the steep slope outside the east gate and look up at the pass tower and the majestic Qilin Mountain. It is like a fierce tiger guarding the east gate of the Guanzhong area, looking extremely majestic and dangerous.

The Qinling Mountains to the south of Tongguan are undulating, verdant and fresh, and pleasing to the eye. The scenery is even more wonderful before and after the spring rain, when clouds float among the mountains, seeming to float, come suddenly and leave without a trace, like a screen standing in the sky.

But at this time Li Yan no longer had the heart to appreciate the majestic scenery of Tongguan. Standing on the watchtower on the city gate and looking down, he saw a road winding into the distance. At this time, there were vehicles of all sizes on the road, stretching as far as the eye could see, people shouting, horses neighing, adults calling out to their children and making noise.

Tongguan is extremely dangerous, and the corresponding pass is also extremely narrow. In addition, the gate tower built at the east gate for defense is so narrow that only two carriages can pass side by side at the narrowest point.

In addition to the cargo carried on the passing vehicles, various customs documents had to be checked, so the passage through the customs was extremely slow. The carriage in the distance behind had been waiting for an unknown period of time, and some were even picking up firewood on the roadside to cook. You can imagine how serious the traffic jam was.

At this time, the person guarding Tongguan was Duan Zhixuan, one of the nine generals of Xuanwu Gate. Duan Zhixuan was on his way back from inspecting the defense and saw him looking at the scenery on the East Gate.
Well.
Crown Prince Li Yan, who was investigating the congestion at Tongguan, stepped forward and bowed, saying, "I am Duan Zhixuan, the commander of Tongguan, and I pay my respects to Your Highness. I was inspecting the defenses and was unable to greet you. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."

"General Duan, you don't have to be so polite!"

Li Yan looked at Duan Zhixuan, who was only 32 years old, and sighed in his heart. Duan Zhixuan was young but had a lot of experience. He first worked as a clerical staff under Li Yuan when his father Duan Yanshi was the governor of Taiyuan.

When Li Yuan and his sons started an uprising against the Sui Dynasty in Taiyuan, Duan Zhixuan recruited more than a thousand soldiers to follow him and was granted the title of Right General of the Grand Marshal's Office.

He followed Li Shimin, disciplined the army strictly, fought bravely, and was known for his bravery. The rebel army pacified Huoyi, defeated Song Laosheng, broke through Jiangjun, and captured Yongfengcang. Duan Zhixuan participated in the major battles in the early stage of the uprising, and he was always the vanguard, winning every attack and every battle. He was promoted to Zuo Guanglu Dafu for his merits.

He once followed Chai Shao and Liu Wenjing to fight against the Sui general Qu Tutong at Tongguan.

He followed Li Shimin to attack Xue Ju and Liu Wuzhou, and was promoted to General of Cavalry and Duke of Wu'an County. After defeating Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, he was transferred to Right Guard of the Palace of the Prince of Qin and was promoted to Duke of Chu. During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Duan Zhixuan and Yuchi Jingde jointly participated in the attack on Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.

After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he was promoted to General of the Left Guard, conferred the title of Duke of Fan on him, and gave him a fief of 900 households. He also entrusted Tongguan, the throat of Guanzhong, to guard it, which shows his trust and importance in him.

Such a brave general with rich experience and brilliant military achievements was exactly what Li Yan needed to do his best to win over. However, Li Yan knew that such a person could not be won over with just a few words. What's more, old Duan died in the 16th year of Zhenguan, so he was of no use at all.

Then he just said politely with a hint of respect: "The grain transport has been cut off, the capital is short of food supply, and many border towns are in urgent need. I was entrusted by my father to come and deal with the problem of the blocked roads. I hope the general will cooperate with me."

"Your Highness, you are too polite. To be honest, this should have been my duty, but now Your Highness needs to come and deal with it. I have failed in my duty." Duan Zhixuan did not dare to look down on Li Yan because of his young age. As far as he knew, although the King of Shu in Chang'an City had been very powerful recently, the emperor did not dislike the prince for his honest and timid nature. On the contrary, he admired the prince for his diligence, progress, filial piety and kindness.

Duan Zhixuan had been close to Li Shimin since childhood, so he stood on Li Shimin's side from the beginning. Even when Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji tried to win him over in every way, he remained unmoved. That is why he has the prominent position in the court today. But because of this, he knows the horror of standing on the wrong side.

In addition, now that he had fame, wealth and power, and Li Shimin was still young, Duan Zhixuan had no intention of making another choice among the princes. In fact, this was the common choice of the generals in the court, and it was too dangerous to take sides.

They were lucky to have chosen the right Li Shimin and had their current status. In addition, Li Shimin was younger than most of their generals and they basically did not have to make any more choices during their lifetime, so they were unwilling to wade into the muddy waters of the next generation.

As for the likes of Cheng Huailiang and Chai Zhewei, they are just the ones the younger generations like and have a good relationship with. Even if they have some inclinations, it is insignificant and cannot affect the overall situation.

Among the real important ministers and generals, only Changsun Wuji and Cen Wenben had clear positions, while the positions of others were relatively detached.

Today it is Li Yan who came to Tongguan. If Li Ke came to Tongguan, Duan Zhixuan would have the same attitude.

"I received the imperial document yesterday and have made all the necessary preparations. If His Royal Highness has any orders, please give them to me and I will fully cooperate."

"Well, the general is really happy!"

The capital was short of food, just like a person who had been suffering from drought for a long time and longed for sweet water. Without further ado, Li Yan immediately called together the officials from the Eastern Palace and the servants recruited from the two cities, and together with Duan Zhixuan, started an on-site office meeting in the watchtower of Tongguan.

Of course, it was mainly Li Yan who was talking, and the others were listening: "Everyone, you can see the current situation. The canal transportation has been cut off, and the only trade route between the east and the west is Tongguan, and here the carriages of all sizes are seriously blocked."

"Because of the poor flow of goods, materials in Chang'an were scarce, and the prices of various commodities rose. This further prompted more merchants to transport more goods to Tongguan, forming a vicious cycle. Instead of increasing the transportation capacity of the pass, it became more congested than before."

"Especially in the south, the tax grain was blocked by the customs and could not be transported to the capital. Border areas were in urgent need of grain. The granary was empty and the people's food supply was affected. In the two markets, waterlogged rice was sold for 300 coins per stone."

"The Yongtong Canal has just begun to repair the breach, so the Tongguan Pass must be cleared immediately to save the court from danger."

Seeing everyone looking at him eagerly, Li Yan said directly: "As the saying goes, the world is bustling with people because of profit. The vehicles coming and going are all seeking profit."

"So, starting today, I will set up a tax checkpoint on the Tongguan Pass Road, and impose heavy taxes on the goods passing through. The tax will be as high as possible, so high that they can't afford it, so high that it won't be worth it for them to go to Chang'an, so high that they would rather transport the goods on the way back to Luoyang than go to Chang'an."

"In this way, without these profit-seeking people, the congestion at Tongguan Pass will naturally be alleviated."

As soon as Li Yan finished speaking, the people below immediately echoed, "Great!"

"Your Highness is indeed wise."

"Oh, why didn't I think of doing this."

"."

Immediately, expressions of sudden enlightenment and the prince's wisdom emerged on the faces of all the people present. Regardless of whether it was true or not, they all began to praise him. Even Duan Zhixuan had a look of approval. He could imagine that once this was implemented, the traffic on the Guan Road would be greatly alleviated within three days.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Li Yan immediately began to arrange tasks: "The various departments transferred from the Eastern Palace will set up a checkpoint under the East Gate of Tongguan to register and collect taxes."

"Yes, Your Highness." Officials from several departments of the Eastern Palace bowed and obeyed the order.

"The soldiers transferred from the two cities are responsible for evaluating how much to collect based on the current prices in Chang'an. In short, their profits should not exceed the usual amount, or even less. If they don't have money, they will directly deduct an equal amount of goods as taxes. There must be no mistakes."

"Yes, Your Highness." The officials from the two markets bowed and obeyed the order.

Finally, Li Yanshuang turned to Duan Zhixuan and said, "Please ask General Duan to dispatch a team of soldiers to maintain order and find a warehouse inside the east gate of Tongguan to store the seized materials."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will take care of this matter." Duan Zhixuan nodded slightly.

Li Yan reminded them again: "Everyone remember, we only tax the goods, not the people. If you come here empty-handed, we won't care. But if you bring goods, even a horse, we will collect taxes."

(End of this chapter)