Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 178 First Show of Strength
"Sorry..."

On the fifth day of March, the voices were anxious.

Xue Kui led five hundred elite cavalrymen to escort three thousand six hundred border prisoners across the Longxi Floating Bridge and arrived three miles south of Longxi City.

Five hundred elite cavalrymen of the Tianxiong Army guarded the generals, while the prisoners in the rear, under the supervision of the elite cavalrymen, carried silk cloth rewarded by the court on their shoulders and in their hands.

Standing on the official road, Xue Kui and others could see Longxi City on the horizon at a glance.

But compared to Longxi City, the road between them and Longxi City is more difficult to travel.

Thousands of elite cavalrymen were lined up in two rows, wearing bright armor and helmets. Each of them had a very young face, but their faces were full of murderous intent.

As the Tianxiong army advanced, they turned their horses around and marched side by side, their eyes cold.

The short distance of three miles made everyone feel very uneasy.

Fortunately, all the elite cavalry stopped and lined up on the other side of the south moat.

A brave cavalryman rode out from the group, his eyes sharp, "Commander Hu Siguang, lead the way for you all!"

After saying this, he shook the reins of his horse and was the first to cross the stone bridge.

Looking at his posture on horseback, Xue Kui couldn't help stroking his beard and said, "Although this boy is young, he is a brave cavalry general. Rare... rare..."

"Go in early and finish the job!"

Wang Zonghui glanced at Xue Kui. At this moment, he felt that the gazes of the more than a thousand elite cavalrymen were like arrows, wishing to pierce them through on the spot.

Xue Kui nodded when he heard this, and walked onto the stone bridge with five hundred elite cavalrymen and more than three thousand six hundred prisoners, and slowly entered the corridor.

Zhang Lin, Wang Zhongren and Liang Zun followed behind Gao Pian, constantly looking at the elite cavalry of Longxi.

Looking at the fat and strong military horses and the sturdy and powerful cavalrymen, one couldn't help but show admiration.

"Yu Hou, Liu Jilong's elite cavalry are much better at fighting than those in Guannei Road."

Zhang Lin spoke straightforwardly, but at this moment no one from the elite cavalry of the Tianxiong Army objected.

Compared with the elite cavalry of Longxi next to the official road, the elite cavalry of Tianxiong Army, which is also famous in Guannei Road, appears particularly weak.

Obviously, the elite cavalry of Longxi were not tall, but their momentum overwhelmed the Tianxiong Army that was carefully selected to guard the border in Qinzhou.

Faced with their sharp gazes, even the elite cavalry of the Tianxiong Army could not help but subconsciously avoid them.

Gao Pian saw the whole scene and felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Whether someone is good at fighting or not can be judged just by looking at each other.

The elite cavalry of Longxi were more brave and capable of fighting than the troops from Fengxiang, Bining, Lingwu, Jingyuan and other towns that he had seen when he was encircling and suppressing the Dangxiang in Guannei Road.

If one were to select such elite soldiers from the hundreds of thousands of Shen Ce troops, it would be difficult to pick out 10,000 of them, let alone elite cavalry.

"These should all be veteran soldiers under Liu Jilong's command."

Wang Zhongren expressed Gao Pian's thoughts, but as they walked out of the city gate corridor, the scene before them made them even more nervous.

Going from the South Gate to the government office, the streets were lined with armored and armed soldiers.

There were four rows on each side, and they went along the street towards the yamen. The men at the head of the rows were all brave and fierce, revealing their murderous aura.

What is even more frightening is that behind this group of armored soldiers there are also civilians in plain clothes.

Even though they had no weapons in their hands and no armor on their bodies, they dared to hold farm tools and military equipment and stare at the Tianxiong Army.

"The military and the people are united. Liu Jilong is really good at winning people's hearts."

Xue Kui's forehead was covered with sweat, and he couldn't help but glance at the soldiers under his command.

But the prisoners who were exiled here walked cautiously with their heads down, and the 500 elite cavalry of the Tianxiong Army also fell silent at this moment.

On the long street, no one dared to make a sound except the sound of horse hooves and the whirring of horses.

If the elite cavalry outside the city could still use the excuse of old soldiers to calm people's hearts, then the thousands of armored soldiers in front of them severely slapped them in the face.

"Liu Jilong is good at training soldiers..."

For a moment, this thought flashed through the minds of all the generals who knew about military affairs, and then they felt a deep chill.

The soldiers along the street didn't look at them in a friendly way; they just stared at them intently.

Xue Kui, Wang Zonghui and others had no doubt that if they had any ill intentions, this group of armored soldiers would rush up and kill them here.

The journey of less than a mile was particularly difficult.

"Everyone please dismount!"

Hu Siguang turned his horse around and was the first to dismount. Then he subconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist and raised his chin slightly.

"My envoy has said that only brigade commanders and above can enter the main hall!"

Wang Zonghui tightened his grip on the reins when he heard this, but after glancing at the soldiers around him, he nodded and said, "Okay!"

All the generals dismounted, led by Xue Kui, Wang Zonghui and Gao Pian, and followed Huke Siguang into the yamen.

After passing through the main gate, dozens of generals in bright armor and helmets in the courtyard immediately cast their eyes towards them.

"Screw rustle..."

They walked in reluctantly, the sound of armor rustling could be heard.

They quickly covered a distance of more than ten steps and stood in front of the main hall door with Huke Siguang.

Suddenly, Huke Siguang walked in and stood at the end of the generals in the hall.

Xue Kui, Wang Zonghui, Gao Pian, Zhang Lin, Wang Zhongren, and Liang Zun walked into the hall, but saw Liu Jilian facing them sideways, while the Longxi generals were staring at them with sullen faces.

In the blink of an eye, Liu Jilong slowly turned around and met the eyes of Xue Kui and others.

During the last confrontation, it was too dark and there was blood on Liu Jillong's face, so Gao Pian and his men did not see Liu Jillong's face clearly. They only remembered that he had a majestic voice and was tall.

Now that the two sides meet again, they can see each other clearly.

Before the meeting, Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui both thought that Liu Jilong, a warrior who was born into a herdsman family, must be a guy with a fat face and rough manners.

Now, after a quick glance, I feel that he is a man of extraordinary talent and appearance.

After a moment of stunned silence, Xue Kui was the first to react and bowed to Liu Jilong:

"Xue Kui, the governor of Qinzhou and the governor of Tianxiong Army, has come here to reward the generals of Longxi in compliance with the imperial decree."

"Outside the government office were more than 3,600 prisoners exiled by the court, and 40,000 rolls of silk used by the court to reward the generals for recovering the three states."

"The court is still discussing the promotion of General Liu and other generals, and the soldiers in the Longxi army will not be shortchanged in their rewards."

After Xue Kui finished speaking, Liu Jilian smiled lightly, but he was not laughing at Xue Kui, but at the Tang Dynasty court.

When he was in Hexi, he followed Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen to recover the Hexi states. When he honestly submitted a petition, he only received an imperial edict.

On the contrary, he recovered the three states of He, Lin and Wei and disobeyed the imperial order, but he received so many rewards... This is really laughable.

"It is true that kind people are often bullied and kind horses are often ridden."

Liu Jilong felt sorry for Zhang Yichao and his nephew in his heart, but at the same time he was also glad that he had escaped from Hexi.

After he calmed down, Liu Jilong slowly raised his hands and bowed to the east, saying:

"In that case, I would like to thank the Supreme for his grace."

His attitude made Wang Zonghui look ugly, but considering what happened just now, he had to keep his head down and remain silent, for fear that Liu Jilong would target him.

"Your Excellency has recovered three states and saved tens of thousands of people from disaster. I deeply admire you and have admired you for a long time."

"Therefore, when the imperial court sent an angel, I volunteered to come to Longxi in order to have an audience with the envoy."

"After seeing you today, I feel that you are handsome, calm and elegant. If you go to Chang'an in the future, I wonder how many girls in Chang'an will fall in love with you."

Xue Kui praised Liu Jilong with a smile, and his praise even sounded a little corny. He thought that only scholars like him could praise others without blushing, feeling nervous, and repeating the same words.

It’s a pity that behind the sweet words is poison. Liu Jilong will not be flattered by the praise, but will only be more vigilant.

Even so, he still pretended to be very pleased: "Governor Xue, thank you for your praise. I am just a commoner. The reason I have achieved what I have today is all thanks to the support of the court."

Liu Jilong sat back in his seat and raised his hand to signal for everyone to sit down.

Chen Jingchong, Shang Duoluo and others stood up and motioned Xue Kui and others to take a seat, and Xue Kui also smiled and bowed to Liu Jilong to express his gratitude: "Thank you, envoy, for the seat."

After he sat down, he continued to smile and bow, saying, "The court is already discussing your request, but it still lacks some records, such as the military positions that the soldiers need to be promoted to, and the order of merit of the generals who recovered the three states." "In addition, the Supreme Lord has issued an order to open the trade route with Longxi, but the court still needs to know what kind of commercial goods Longxi has, so you also need someone to write a book, and I will bring it back to Chang'an and hand it over to the court."

His words were tentative. Liu Jilong thought about it for a moment and understood what they wanted to do.

He simply wanted to stand out in the army and so stir up trouble between himself and the generals, making some generals who were ranked lower in rank feel unfair.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong chuckled and said, "All the officers and soldiers in a certain army are brothers. The generals are brothers and the soldiers are brothers. The so-called order is not important."

"As for the promotion of military positions, it is up to the commanders of each army to decide on their own, and there is no need for me to personally review it."

After saying that, Liu Jilong looked at Chen Jingchong without waiting for Xue Kui to speak.

"Jing Chong, take your men to take over the prisoners and silk cloth outside the government office. The silk cloth will be stored in the state treasury. The prisoners will be divided into first, second and third grades according to their crimes and sent to Hezhou, Linzhou and Weizhou respectively."

"I obey your command!" Chen Jingchong bowed in response, and Liu Jilian also looked at Xue Kui.

"Governor Xue must be exhausted from the journey. I have already ordered someone to clean up the West Hall. Please go and have a rest!"

"No, no, Qinzhou is busy with affairs, and I will need to lead the army back to Qinzhou later."

Xue Kui kept smiling, but in his heart he felt that Liu Jilong was very difficult to deal with.

His words were simply to show himself and the court that the court had no need to interfere in the internal affairs of the Longxi Army.

If that's the case, it would be a headache.

You should know that even for the three towns in Heshuo, the imperial court was able to appoint chief inspectors and military governors, but the military governors sent were incompetent and were often expelled by the guards.

If the Jiedushi sent out was a figure like Li Su or Wang Shi, and was given enough money, he would still be able to subdue the guards.

But now Liu Jilian's attitude is that he regards the Longxi Army as his private army. What's more, the Longxi military and civilians are very fond of it. This is a bit troublesome.

If we continue to stay in Longxi, we may not be able to obtain any military intelligence. It is better to leave. After all, there are spies from the imperial court among the 3,600 prisoners.

When the time is right, we will be able to obtain a lot of intelligence about the Longxi Army.

Xue Kui was thinking this, but Liu Jilong said, "In that case, I will write down the names of the soldiers to be promoted and rewarded on the document and give it to Governor Xue to take back."

Without waiting for Xue Kui to respond, Liu Jilong looked at Shang Duoluo and said, "Send someone to make a copy of the record of the promotion and reward of the generals and send it to Governor Xue to take back."

"I obey your command!" Shang Duoluo bowed in response, then left with two brigade commanders.

Seeing Liu Jilong's arrangement, Xue Kui could not refuse and could only smile and say, "In that case, I will lead the troops out of the city to wait, so as not to delay the time."

"Okay, Governor Xue, take care."

Liu Jilong raised his hand to signal them to leave. He had no intention of sending them out of the city. He didn't even plan to leave the main hall. Instead, he sat down on the chair, looking very domineering.

Seeing him like this, although Wang Zonghui did not dare to show up, he still signaled Gao Pian with his eyes.

Gao Pian frowned when he saw this, but after a moment he signaled Zhang Lin with his eyes, and Zhang Lin had already lost control of his temper.

Seeing Gao Pian's signal, he immediately rushed over and said, "Envoy Liu, when will the tribute and taxes of the three states be able to return to normal?!"

"Tribute?" Liu Jilong asked Zhang Lin, chuckling:
"Right now, the three states are suffering from a severe drought and are unable to afford the tribute. When the drought is over, I will naturally send troops to escort the tribute to Chang'an and present it to the Supreme!"

He always responded with a smile, which made people feel warm and happy.

Seeing that Liu Jilong was not angry at his confrontation but instead responded with a smile, Zhang Lin immediately didn't know what to do.

Seeing that he had no other options, Gao Pian glanced at Wang Zonghui implicitly, and Wang Zonghui also implicitly signaled to him to continue.

Wang Zong would want to provoke Liu Jilong in order to obtain some information, but this method is very dangerous. If Liu Jilong takes action, all of them will have to stay here.

Thinking of this, Gao Pian could only speak tactfully: "Envoy Liu, General Zhang is just too impatient, but please don't be angry."

"The court is aware of the drought in the three states, but the tribute from the three states is also extremely important to the court. If the envoy has no manpower to send, I can lead the Shen Ce Army into Weizhou to collect tribute for the Supreme."

As soon as he finished speaking, the generals from Longxi around him looked unfriendly, their hands placed on the hilts of their swords, and their eyes looked tentatively at Liu Jilong, waiting for his order to capture these lunatics.

"Ha ha……"

Liu Jilong did not respond to the generals, but chuckled and said, "I wonder who the young master is?"

"Gao Pian, Yu Hou of the Shen Ce Army, whose name is Qianli." Gao Pian was neither humble nor arrogant, and looked down on the generals in Longxi as nothing.

Liu Jilong looked him up and down. He was tall, about five feet eight inches tall, and his appearance could only be described as regular and delicate, not handsome.

Looking at Gao Pian, Liu Jilong nodded and said, "If Gao Yuhou is willing to lead the Shen Ce Army to come and find tribute for the three states, that would be great."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone became nervous because they didn't think Liu Jilong was that easy to talk to.

As expected, without waiting for Gao Pian to respond, Liu Jilong asked loudly: "I wonder how many Shen Ce troops Gao Yuhou can bring?"

"Three thousand!" Gao Pian asked with gritted teeth. Liu Jilong shook his head and said, "Too little..."

"The three states are vast, and at least 30,000 people are needed to barely search for them, and 100,000 people are needed to steadily pay tribute to the imperial court!"

No one in the hall was a fool. Liu Jilian's words clearly pointed out that Gao Pian had too few soldiers and horses.

Three thousand are too few. Thirty thousand can barely compete with Longxi. Only one hundred thousand can take over Longxi.

Hearing this, Gao Pian's eyes changed. He felt that Liu Jilong was a little rebellious, but after a moment he felt that Liu Jilong had someone to rely on, so he dared to say so.

He glanced at Wang Zonghui, and seeing that Wang Zonghui remained silent, he restrained himself and said, "If that's the case, then my troops are still too few."

"I only hope that after the Supreme knows everything about the Three States, he will understand that it is not easy for you."

Gao Pian implicitly expressed that he did not want to be an enemy of Liu Jilong, it was just his duty.

That’s all for today, but he didn’t know whether the imperial court would continue to send people to investigate.

"Hehe..." When Liu Jilong saw Gao Pian surrender, he knew who instructed him to do this.

Thinking of this, he looked at Wang Zonghui: "This is Wang Dujian, right?"

"That's right..." Wang Zonghui didn't expect Liu Jilong to come to him, so he couldn't help but bow and say, "Your Excellency has a keen eye."

Liu Jilong was speechless. After all, among a bunch of people here, he was the only one who was old and had no beard. Who else could be a eunuch except him?

"I heard that the Dujian's duty is to supervise Qin and Long. I wonder if Longxi is included in the Dujian's duties?"

"You are joking, my lord. I supervise Qin and Long, which means Qinzhou and Longzhou, not Qinzhou and Longxi."

Wang Zonghui was ashamed. He didn't want to face this group of domineering warriors head-on. It would be a waste if he lost his head.

"Oh...I see." A trace of disappointment flashed in Liu Jilong's eyes. Seeing this, Wang Zonghui no longer wanted to spy on any information and immediately urged Xue Kui.

"It's getting late, Xue Zhuguo, we should set off now."

"Yeah." Xue Kui was somewhat reluctant. After all, it was rare for him to see Wang Zonghui being so timid.

It's a pity that he couldn't make things difficult for Wang Zonghui, and the court didn't want to fall out with Liu Jilian, otherwise he really wanted to use Liu Jilian to kill Wang Zonghui.

"Envoy, it's getting late. Let's go back to Qinzhou first."

Xue Kui bowed to Liu Jilong, and Liu Jilong nodded and said, "Sir Xue, take care."

As soon as he finished speaking, Huke Siguang walked out of the main hall first and personally escorted Xue Kui and others out of the yamen and walked out of the city.

Seeing them leaving, people such as Dou Bin, Wang Sifeng, Liu Yingyan, Dou Jingchong and others bowed one after another.

"Governor, are you just going to let them go like this?"

"Governor, the assassin who questioned you just now was too rude, why didn't you teach him a lesson!"

"Provincial Governor..."

The generals were filled with righteous indignation and wished they could kill Gao Pian, Zhang Lin and others with their own hands.

Obviously, they did not understand what Gao Pian said later and thought that Gao Pian was threatening Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong did not try to hide the truth when he saw this, and directly pointed out: "They are just pawns. The one who really wants to threaten me is the supreme ruler of the court."

Li Chen wanted Liu Jilong to be more honest and stop here, but Liu Jilong refused.

The seven prefectures in Longnan are still waiting for him to recover, and Shang Bibi and Tuoba Huaiguang in the two prefectures of Hehuang are also waiting for his support. How could he stop here?

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong glanced at everyone and said, "The 40,000 pieces of silk will be returned to the warehouse first. When we finish the work at hand, we will reward them together with the soldiers!"

"I obey your command..." Everyone agreed, and Liu Jilong also picked up the water cup and took a sip.

"This Gao Pian is not easy to deal with..."

(End of this chapter)