Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 674 Journey to the West

On March 3rd of the third year of Longxing, Yang Yuan set out to take up his post on the road to Tongchuan.

This trip to Tongchuan will definitely not result in another transfer in the short term.

The imperial court would never frequently transfer local governors.

Despite this, Yang Yuan did not bring his family with him.

This is mainly because the situation in the Sichuan-Xiamen region is complicated. If you want to settle down there, you have to do a lot of things and you can't take care of your family for the time being.

Moreover, he has many industries in Lin'an, and these need to be settled.

Fortunately, these properties are usually handed over to family members to manage, so as long as they are left behind, they can be managed in an orderly manner.

In the past, these industries only increased Yang Yuan's personal wealth.

As a provincial governor in the future, it is hard to say whether this money will not be of greater use.

Take Zhang Jun for example. The Battle of Fuping was entirely caused by his underestimation of the enemy, his reckless advance, his willful obstinacy, and his repeated rejection of the correct opinions of his subordinates. But why was he not only not severely punished, but was still reused later?

Because he is loyal.

In order to recruit soldiers and horses, he sold all his property and raised 50,000 gold to recruit brave warriors and good horses. Who would be the emperor and not use such a person?

What's more, in Yang Yuan's view, the history of the development of war is the history of the development of weapons.

Under the premise that the armaments of each other cannot form a crushing force, the role of generals is very obvious.

In the face of absolute strength, any tricks are just empty talk.

Of course, being in this era and with Yang Yuan's knowledge, he cannot create cross-era weapons to crush this era.

But he has no famous generals at his disposal now, so strengthening armaments becomes the only option to improve combat effectiveness.

In order to improve combat effectiveness, we must strengthen the development of weapons, which is very expensive.

Therefore, not only will his industry not shrink due to his departure, but it will also expand further.

Therefore, Yang Yuan only brought Uncle Ji, Uncle Gou, Wang Changsheng, Xiao Qianyue, Han Qianchen and others with him this time.

Mr. Qu Da went ahead and took the main force of Tongzhou Society to Chuanxia first.

Also traveling with her were Fujiwara Himeka, Kanon, and Kona.

They will stay in the dark, which will help Yang Yuan to open up the situation locally.

Old Man Song stayed to help Luxi deal with things, and all of Yang Yuan's family will move to Tongchuan Road at the end of this year or early next year.

The only person who traveled openly with Yang Yuan was his new favorite concubine Liu Yanran.

This was the main culprit that caused him to lose the emperor's favor, so of course he had to keep it with him.

Only when she is there, Yang Yuan’s creation of the “miserable” and “amorous” characters is convincing.

However, on the eve of his departure, a woman quietly entered Yang Yuan's bathroom, knelt before his knees and begged him in a soft voice.

Finally, after much persuasion, she finally managed to coax Yang Yuan into softening his heart and taking her along.

That means having many children.

Duozi followed Yang Yuan on the journey west as Liu Yanran's maid.

The imperial court selected five hundred men from the imperial guards to serve as Yang Yuan's personal soldiers, and sent them to accompany Marshal Yang to take up his post.

Yang Yuan went there to take up the post of the governor and pacifier of Tongchuan Road.

This position was responsible for both military, political and civil affairs, similar to a governor of a region. His office was called Shuai Si, so he could be respectfully called the Grand Marshal.

These five hundred people were selected from the soldiers who participated in the Battle of Lingbi. They will escort Yang Yuan all the way west.

On this day, Yang Yuan arrived in Ezhou.

Ezhou belongs to Jinghu North Road, which is adjacent to Kuizhou Road of Chuanxia 4th Road.

Once something happens in the four routes of Sichuan and Xia, it is very convenient to send troops to provide assistance from here, so Li Dao, the commander of the military region, becomes extremely important.

Even if Yang Yuan had no contact with him before, now that he was passing by here, he would have to pay him a visit to strengthen their relationship, not to mention that the two of them were old acquaintances.

In recent years, because of Li Fengniang, the two sides have exchanged gifts during festivals. Although they don't see each other often, their relationship is very friendly.

What's more, when Yang Yuan came, he also brought back the little girl Li Fengniang.

Li Dao personally went out to greet Yang Yuan and brought him to his house for a banquet. Yang Yuan specially picked Uncle Ji and Uncle Gou to attend the banquet together.

Because they were originally the fierce soldiers in Li Dao's army.

Yang Yuan also asked Liu Yanran to visit the female members of the Li family in the name of Fei Yuye and present them with generous gifts.

Fei Yuye's father Fei Tianlu was Li Dao's deputy general at that time, and the two had a very good relationship.

When Yue's army was persecuted, Li Dao did his best to save his deputy general Fei Tianlu.

Mrs. Yang Yuan's diplomacy was quite effective. Liu Yanran's demeanor and manners were naturally impeccable. She was also good at speaking, and she was soon welcomed by all the women in Li Dao's mansion.

In the back garden, pear and peach blossoms are in full bloom.

Li Dao spread a mat under the flowers, placed wine on it, and drank with Yang Yuan.

Li Dao's trusted generals, brothers, nephews, etc. were all seated at a separate table.

In a pavilion with curtains amidst the flowers and trees, are the women of the Li Mansion. The most graceful among them is the former Princess Liu, now Liu Yanran.

There were flowers and trees between them, but they could hear each other's laughter.

"Brother, in my eyes, you are this!"

Li Dao drank a little too much. He raised his thumb to Yang Yuan and said with a chuckle, "You are good, you have done something that all men in the world want to do but dare not do!"

He slept with the emperor's wife and still dared to go to the emperor to receive salary and become an official. Is there anyone else like him in the world except Yang Yuan?
Yang Yuan smiled and said, "I just can't help myself because I love you."

"Hahaha, no matter what, you are a man. I tell you, I heard that you killed more than 40,000 golden dogs in the battle of Lingbi, but this didn't surprise me. I admire you very much."

Li Dao put his arm around Yang Yuan's shoulders and said drunkenly, "Do you know? Actually, I wanted to recruit you as my son-in-law. At that time, you hadn't married yet. Hey, just tell me, what do you think of my vision, it's a pity..."

Li Daolian slapped his thigh and said in annoyance: "Brother, my daughter was born too late. She was just a yellow-haired girl. You still didn't like her after all. You didn't like her... Hiccup, you are right. If you liked her then, you would be such a beast."

"Hey, Brother Li, you've drunk too much..."

"Nonsense, I'm not drunk, how can I have the nerve to tell you this."

Li Daochang sighed: "This year's champion is old and even has a grandson. I just remembered that not every champion is like you, who just happens to be unmarried.

Hey, nowadays, the families that want to marry you are all military families. I want to find a scholar as my son-in-law. Why is it so difficult?" "Brother, you have high standards and you don't like ordinary scholars. However, I think military generals are also good."

Seeing that Li Dao's mouth was full of alcohol, his face was red, and he was almost leaning on him, Yang Yuan smiled bitterly.

"Yes, yes. If all else fails, we can arrange a marriage for her with a military family. Hmm..."

Li Dao seemed to be in a state of shock, his eyes were fixed for a moment, and then he spoke with a thick tongue: "The Wu family in Lixi, the Yang family in Lizhong, and... and the Guo family in Lidong, have all sent people to propose marriage to my family.

"Ziyue, you are the top scholar in the imperial examinations, a star from heaven, you have great vision, please help me think about which family is better for me to marry into!"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Li, you only have this one daughter. I heard from Feng Niang that you have spoiled her since she was a child. I'm afraid you don't want her to marry far away, right?"

Yang Yuan glanced at the guests at other tables and said, "Is there no talented and handsome young man in the Ezhou army? Why do you have to go far away?"

“You…you don’t understand…”

Li Dao drunkenly scratched his head and said, "They... they were peeing in the mud right under my nose, your brother. Now they are standing here in a decent manner, wanting to marry my daughter and be my son-in-law? Ugh, they are not worthy..."

"I grew up beside you, brother. You know my character better. Isn't this better?"

Yang Yuan patted Li Dao on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you only have one precious daughter. If you choose the wrong person, it will ruin her life. Be careful, be careful."

Yang Yuan was relatively restrained when drinking, but Li Dao had no restraint at all. When he was drunk, he would pull Yang Yuan aside and talk about all sorts of things.

His sons were unable to persuade her, so they secretly ran to the pavilion and called Li Fengniang over.

Li Fengniang threw away his wine jar and twisted his ear before she managed to subdue the drunkard.

When seeing Yang Yuan off, it was Li Dao's four sons who saw him off on their behalf, because Li Dao was already completely drunk and snoring loudly.

Li Dao's sons helped him back to his room, took the hangover soup brought by the maid, and tried to coax him to drink it: "Dad, General Yang has gone back to rest, you should drink some hangover soup and go to bed early."

Li Dao suddenly opened his eyes.

Although his eyes were bloodshot and his face was red and hot, his gaze was very clear and there was no trace of drunkenness at all.

"You little bastards, listen to me clearly. In the future, when you deal with the children of the three commanders of the Western Army, be careful not to get too involved with them and don't get too close to them. Do you understand?"

Li Jiadalang frowned and said, "Dad, why do you say that? Could it be that... Yang Shuai said something to you?"

Li Dao shook his head, glanced at them, and said, "You don't need to ask anything. Just do what I say from now on."

Li Dao was already overbearing in front of his sons, and now he was drunk, so his four sons naturally did not dare to argue and could only say yes repeatedly.

Li Dao took the hangover soup and drank it all in one gulp. He handed the empty bowl to the boss and waved his hand, saying, "Everyone, get out."

After his four sons left, Li Dao leaned back on the pillow and slightly closed his eyes: "Yang Yuan fell out of favor and was exiled? Hey..."

……

Yang Yuan rested in Ezhou for three days and then continued his journey west.

Li Dao and his beloved daughter Feng Niang escorted him out of the city. Li Feng Niang rode on a horse and waved her little hand to say goodbye to Yang Yuan:
"Uncle, when Qingtang, Ah Man and the others come, I will go with them to visit you."

"What a good candidate for son-in-law, what a pity." Li Dao stroked his beard and let out a long sigh.

As Yang Yuan traveled westward, the spies from the "Tongzhou Society" whom he had sent to Tongchuan Road began to play a role.

Although Yang Yuan could also borrow the power of the Quefang controlled by his brother-in-law Liu Shangqiu, it was a public property after all.

There are too many taboos about using public resources for personal gain, so it is better to have an intelligence force of your own so that you can use it more easily.

Now, he is still on the road, and the intelligence about Sichuan and Xia collected by the "Tongzhouhui" is being sent back one after another.

In the car, there was a pile of letters on Yang Yuan's desk, and Yang Yuan was reading through them one by one.

The chaotic messages were gradually sorted out into interconnected threads in his mind.

Compared with other regions in the Song Dynasty, the situation in Sichuan can be said to be the most complicated.

“Shu was in chaos before the rest of the world was in chaos; Shu was not when the rest of the world was in order” is probably a good evaluation of this region.

Of course, this also has historical reasons.

After the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Central Plains was in turmoil. Sichuan and Shu regions, because of their location in the southwest, avoided wave after wave of major wars.

Therefore, the wealthy and prominent families in the Sichuan region have basically been preserved relatively intact.

At the same time, because the Sichuan-Shu region was more stable, many wealthy families from other places fled to the relatively stable Bashu for refuge.

They brought huge wealth with them, and after marrying into local wealthy families, they were able to successfully integrate into the local community and become the new wealthy families in Sichuan.

As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Bashu region is much greater than that in the Central Plains.

Because of land annexation and extortion, the lower-class people either became servants and tenants, or took advantage of the advantageous geographical location to become bandits.

The transportation in the Sichuan-Shu region gave it the geographical advantage of "the emperor is far away", so the court had to delegate power to the local officials in the Bashu region.

In this way, local officials and powerful people combined to form powerful politics.

If you want to gain a firm foothold in Bashu, powerful people are a problem that you must face and solve!
Yang Yuan narrowed his eyes and thought, those who are useful should be won over, those who stick together should be divided, and those who are troublesome should be suppressed...

At least I have to run Tongchuan Road into an ironclad entity first, and then I can show off my power as a counselor to the three commanders of the Western Army.

"Hu~" Yang Yuan let out a breath. The following struggle was going to be very troublesome.

Liu Yanran, who was sitting next to him, said considerately, "My husband, if you are tired, take a rest. The roads here are bumpy and the car is shaking violently. How can you not feel dizzy if you read the notes again?"

As she said that, she wanted Yang Yuan to lie on her legs and massage his head.

Yang Yuan laughed, pulled her into his arms, and whispered something in her ear.

A blush immediately appeared on Liu Yanran's flawless face. She quickly glanced at Duozi who was sitting beside her and whispered, "Husband, this... isn't a good idea, is it?"

"Why, are you afraid that the car will be too bumpy and hurt your teeth?"

Liu Yanran glared at him with shame and anger, wrinkled her nose, and snorted, "I'm afraid I'll bite you, a bad guy."

"Madam Yanran is also tired, let this servant serve the Marshal."

Duozi suddenly giggled, raised her hands, tied her hair tighter, and then slid down along the seat.

When Yang Yuan saw her, he hugged Liu Yanran, leaned back in the chair, and kissed her on her cherry lips.

Liu Yanran was so excited by Yang Yuan's kiss that she struggled to slide down. When she was trying to compete with Duozi, she heard a stern voice outside the car: "Stop, get off the horse, and protect the commander!"

Then there was a loud rumbling sound, as if the sky was falling and the earth was splitting apart.

PS: Heroes, I have been traveling for half a day today and will be in a meeting all day tomorrow. That’s all for today. I will update tomorrow morning on my way back tomorrow night.

(End of this chapter)