Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 216 The beginning of the turmoil
“Gee…Gee…Gee…”

On April 17, as the sound of horse hooves rang out outside Changsong City, Jiu Juyan, who had been ordered to go to Wuquan County, came back again.

But this time, he brought back more than ten Tang riders from Wuquan.

Half an hour later, Yang Xin, a special general of Wuquan County, took out the imperial edict from his arms, and Jiu Juyan also handed the imperial edict to Zhang Huaishen.

"Envoy Zhang, my commander said that the reason why the Five Springs have not been returned is because Longyou needs the Five Springs to go north for trade. It is not out of ill will, but the timing is not right."

"Once Longyou's trade route in the south is stabilized and Shankuo and the other two states are recovered, the Five Springs will naturally be returned."

"As for Lanzhou granted by the imperial court, my commander-in-chief has absolutely no intention of taking it."

"When our commander-in-chief recaptures Shankuo this year, Envoy Zhang can send people to take back Wuquan at any time."

"But most of the people in Wuquan are military dependents and people who were paid to be resettled by Longyou. These people have to be relocated."

Facing Yang Xin's words, Zhang Huaishen, who had just read the imperial edict, couldn't help but say awkwardly:
"I don't doubt Liu Jilong, and I know your difficulties, so I haven't asked you for Wuquan County in these years."

The more detailed and beneficial Yang Xin's description was, the more likely it was to be true.

Seeing that Liu Jilong had not changed, Zhang Huaishen, Zhang Huaijian, Jiu Juyan and others felt a little embarrassed. After all, their attitude towards Liu Jilong in the past few days was not good.

It now seems that in the entire Longyou and Hexi, only Liu Jilian has good intentions towards them, while other forces are all thinking about dividing them up.

"Du Wanmeng, take this General Yang to Yin Hotel to rest."

Zhang Huaishen felt a little embarrassed, so he sent Yang Xin away.

After Yang Xin and Du Wanmeng left, Zhang Huaishen threw the imperial edict on the table and his eyes stayed on Zhang Huaijian.

"Brother Huaijian, do you believe Liu Jilong now?"

"I……"

Zhang Huaijian also blushed a little. He didn't expect Liu Jilong to take the initiative to mention the matter of Wuquan.

You know, the current situation is very unfavorable to them, but Liu Jilong not only did not add insult to injury, but also showed goodwill, which is already very difficult.

"Now it seems that the imperial court is just trying to sow discord and use Li Yizhong and Suo Xun to deal with us!"

Zhang Huaishen changed the subject and spoke coldly about the current situation, while Zhang Huaijian also walked down the stairs and took the initiative to say:

"And there is also the Chishui Army under Zhang Zhifang!"

"That's right!" Jiu Juyan echoed, "The three forces combined have no less than 6,000 soldiers, and they are indeed a big threat."

"Hmph!" Zhang Huaishen snorted coldly, his eyes flickering:
"It's too easy for them to think that they can be my enemy with just the three of them!"

"We can also take this opportunity to show our strength to the court!"

Hearing this, Jiu Juyan and Zhang Huaijian's eyes lit up, and they bowed and asked, "Are you ready to start?"

"Yes!" Zhang Huaishen nodded seriously: "We must always draw our swords!"

"Even if my uncle doesn't support me this time, I will still draw my sword against Zhang Zhifang and make the imperial court dare not bully us again!"

Zhang Huaishen finally took a tough stance against the imperial court. Perhaps the imperial court's actions had touched his bottom line. In any case, he decided to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and let the imperial court see his determination.

His toughness also made Zhang Huaijian and Jiu Juyan very excited.

On the contrary, Zhe Duoxibie said nothing, which poured cold water on Zhang Huaishen.

"Zheduosibie, what do you think?"

Zhang Huaishen retracted his smile and asked Zhe Duoxibie.

Zhang Huaijian and Jiu Juyan also looked at Zhe Duo Si Bei, but Zhe Duo Si Bei said, "Envoy, I'm afraid you have missed two powerful enemies..."

"..."

Hearing this, the three of them guessed who Zheduosibie was talking about, which made them look ugly.

"The Umos of Liangzhou and the Uighurs of Ganzhou are both subjects of the imperial court."

"If the imperial court forces them, then we..."

Zhe Duoxibie didn't say too much, but Zhang Huaishen and the others already knew what he wanted to say.

The two states of Gan and Liang do not yet have the strength to deal with five enemies at the same time.

Although they inflicted heavy damage on the Ganzhou Uighurs last winter, the Liangzhou Umu did not lose any troops and horses, but instead captured tens of thousands of herds of livestock.

Even Zhang Huaishen felt the pressure of dealing with them at the same time.

"If my uncle knew about this, he would definitely support us. Don't worry!"

Zhang Huaishen gave everyone a reassurance, but he didn't know that the court's methods were more than that.

While he was comforting Jiu Juyan and others, Chen Ying, who was ordered by Liu Jilong to go north to do business, also sold the last batch of linen in Lingzhou.

"Chen Yaya, don't forget us by this time next year."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

"Don't worry, I'll be waiting for you here next March!"

At the door of a tavern somewhere in the East Market of Lingwu County, Chen Ying stood there and bowed and said goodbye to the merchants from Jingyuan, Xiasui Army, Shuofang Army, Tiande Army and Zhenwu Army.

Watching everyone go away, Chen Ying turned around and went back to the tavern.

The streets outside were bustling with people, but the tavern was empty.

It’s not that the tavern business is bad, it’s just that Chen Ying just bought this tavern specifically for entertaining merchants from various towns in Guannei Road.

Inside the shop, two military officers kept tapping their abacus. When Chen Ying approached, they had just finished their calculations and couldn't help but look up and smile:

"This batch of brocade, silk and linen, dragon beard mats, and fried tea were divided into five batches and sold to the five towns. Except for the less profit when they were sold to the Shuofang Army, the rest of the towns sold them at a medium to high price."

"The total is 176,424 strings of cash, 563 coins."

The military officer filled in the amount on the document and then turned the document to Chen Ying.

Seeing this, Chen Ying picked up the abacus and calculated it himself. After confirming that there was no problem, he nodded and said, "Okay."

"It's a pity that the price of horses this year is a little higher than last year. I just negotiated with Li Yaya of the Shuofang Army and the price of each draft horse is four strings of cash, and each ox is seven strings of cash."

"So high?" The military officers of both armies were stunned. After all, when they came here last year, each draft horse only earned two and a half strings of cash, and each ox only earned six strings of cash.

Now, a year has passed, and it has increased so much.

"This is already a bargain..."

Chen Ying sighed helplessly and explained, "In the past when trade was banned, Lingzhou had few horses but abundant silk, so a low-quality horse required fifteen pieces of silk, which was equivalent to seven loads of tea."

"After the opening of the trade, there were more horses and less silk and tea, so the prices of silk and tea went up."

"What should we do then?" The two officers frowned, and one of them said:

"This time, we sold only 170,000 strings of cash. Before we set out, Chief Secretary Gao told us to bring back at least 150,000 strings of cash. We can only use 26,000 strings of cash."

"The price of horses in Guannei Road has increased a lot compared to last year. I don't think you can buy many horses with this amount of money."

Facing their concerns, Chen Ying comforted them, "Don't worry, I have already discussed it with Li Ya of the Shuofang Army."

"The horses in these two towns are sold at a rate of eight boys and seven girls. We will take any number you bring."

"As for the oxen and horses, you two should take 7,000 strings of cash and buy 1,000 oxen first."

Chen Ying gave the instructions, and the two had no choice but to agree.

Soon, the two of them led more than 30 elite cavalrymen from Longyou out of the city, while Chen Ying stayed in the tavern and discussed with other military officers how to improve the tavern.

"This tavern will be renamed Sanxianlou, and we will leave four of the chefs we brought with us to run the business here."

"From now on, every March, this will be the place where we do business with the merchants in the towns of Guannei Road. We don't require the wine shop to make money, but it's OK as long as we don't lose money."

After nearly three months of operation, Chen Ying was in a very good mood as he had finally managed to get the business done.

Although the price of imported horses is much higher than last year, it has not risen to such a terrifying price as more than ten strings of coins.

With their surplus money, it would not be a problem to buy a man or woman worth more than 2,000 yuan.

Thinking of this, Chen Ying calmed down and said to the military officer not far away: "Zhao Sanlang, go to my room and bring down the box."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, the military officer immediately went upstairs and soon brought the box down with great effort.

The box was not big. After Chen Ying opened it, she found it was filled with bags, each with a name on it. There were more than a dozen bags in total.

"Ya Ya, where did this money come from?"

Zhao Sanlang frowned and asked, and Chen Ying did not hide it: "These are the gold bars that Li Shijun and his men exchanged for their salaries. They all expect me to find concubines for them."

"Wait here. I'll go to the horse shop next door to see if there are any pretty girls."

"If it's not available, then we can only wait until we return to Longyou and buy it next time we go to Chang'an."

Chen Ying sighed, stood up and walked out of the tavern.

Soon, he walked into the horse-drawn carriage shop in the East Market and found the shop's manager with ease.

It was just a pity that he had changed several batches and still didn't find any pretty women. He couldn't help but exclaimed:
"The women here are almost catching up with the women in West City."

This is ironic. After all, anyone who is young and strong can enter the horse-riding business in Xishi.

The manager also said helplessly: "Most of the beautiful horses in our business have been bought by military generals."

"You came at an unfortunate time. Otherwise, we would have waited until winter came. Before winter, a batch of horses purchased from Huainan would have headed north."

"Huainan?" Chen Ying wondered: "Has the famine in Huainan not ended yet? It's been almost three years, right?" "Ah..." The steward sighed: "I heard that the former Huainan governor was busy with banquets and neglected disaster relief, causing the disaster to become more and more serious."

"That is why we went to Huainan to buy horses. We will be able to bring back some good-looking horses before winter."

"Look at..."

"Okay!" Chen Ying also stood up when he saw this. The manager quickly put on his outer robe for him, and Chen Ying also promised:
"I can't come before winter. I will come in March next year. Please write to your master and ask him to buy some and send it to you around March next year."

"By this time next year, I will come here to buy at least a few dozen women. Whether or not to make this deal is entirely up to you."

After she finished speaking, Chen Ying also walked out of the private room and headed outside.

The manager quickly apologized, and fortunately Chen Ying didn't take it to heart.

When the two of them walked to the entrance of Koumahang, they happened to run into Zhao Sanlang.

"Aya!"

The military officer bowed, and Chen Ying knew something had happened, but he still took Zhao Sanlang back to the tavern at a leisurely pace.

"what happened?"

Chen Ying walked into the tavern and asked Zhao Sanlang, and he replied:

"Just now, news came from outside the city that the herds outside the city all have the mark of Hexi..."

"The mark of Hexi?" Chen Ying was stunned, but he quickly figured out the problem.

Apparently, the Umu and Uighur tribes from Ganliang invaded Hexi and looted many herds.

In this regard, Chen Ying could do nothing but sigh.

"That's it?"

After sighing, he asked Zhao Sanlang, but this time Zhao Sanlang lowered his voice and said:

"Just now, Wang Yashang of the Tiande Army sent someone to deliver news, saying that for more than half a month, the court sent people to the Juyan Sea via the northern Mo Nan Road."

Hearing this, Chen Ying frowned. Although he was not sure what had happened, he felt that this matter was related to Hexi and even involved Longyou.

However, he had not yet completed his horse business and could not return to Longyou for the time being, so he could only say to Zhao Sanlang:

"Go outside the city and tell Liu Wulang to take the news back to Didao with his brothers."

"Yes!" Zhao Sanlang bowed in response, turned around and walked out.

At the same time, a team of one hundred elite cavalrymen and hundreds of civilian laborers appeared to the east of Baiting Sea in Ganliang Grassland.

Hundreds of light cavalry rushed eastward to investigate, and soon led them into the Uighur camp at the Juyan Lake.

Compared with a few years ago, the Uighur camp has not only not become smaller, but has expanded a lot.

They lived on the southern shore of the Juyan Lake and grazed southward along the Ruoshui River. They had hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep and a population of nearly 200,000.

"The Khan of Ganzhou tribe, Chengle, pays respect to the angel!"

In front of the tent, the old Chengle, along with Xiali, Ponteler and others, knelt down and saluted the so-called angel.

For the remnants of the Uighurs, their impression of the Tang Dynasty still remains in the Huichang period, and they feel that the Tang Dynasty is still strong.

At their worship, the so-called angel took off the robe that protected him from the wind and sand, revealing his true appearance.

"I am here on the orders of the Supreme Being. The Uighur Khan of Ganzhou accepts the order!"

"The Uighurs have made contributions to the country, and have been married for generations. They are vassal states and pay tribute, so there is no alarm in the north."

"During the Huichang period, the barbarian court was in chaos, the Khan fled, and the treacherous ministers took control and annihilated him immediately."

"Recently, a surrendered person said that he has already become the Khan and is still living in Anxi. When he returns to the royal tent, he will be given an imperial decree."

"Now I decree that the Ganzhou tribe's Chengle be made Khan, and order him to lead his troops to Guzang to open trade, and be supervised and controlled by Liangzhou Governor Suo Xun."

"The decree is as on the right. Please obey it and implement it. I'm very careful."

"I accept the order..." Cheng Le hurriedly accepted the order, and the official handed the imperial edict to him.

"When you go to Liangzhou, you must not show off your military power. You must obey the orders of the governor Suo Xun. Do you understand?"

"I know!" Cheng Le nodded repeatedly, and the official also nodded with satisfaction:
"The Supreme Emperor ordered me to go to Anxi to announce the imperial decree to pacify and appoint the Uighur tribes, so I will not stay any longer."

"Please ask the Khan to go to Guzang in Liangzhou as soon as possible, and the Khan of the Umota, Dugazhi, will go with him."

The official was about to leave after he finished speaking, but Cheng Le saw him and quickly signaled to him with his eyes.

Xia Li returned to the tent, handed the bran gold they had collected over the years to the official, and then protected the official and left.

After they left, Cheng Le also laughed out loud, "The Emperor of the Tang court is so blind that he is planning to transfer Zhang Huaishen away and even opened up a trade agreement for us!"

"Khan, let's move our troops south now and allow the Han people to open trade!"

"That's right, now that Liangzhou has a trade market, we don't have to go to Fengzhou!"

"But they have opened a trade, so how can we plunder Liangzhou?"

"You pig-dog fellow, at worst, let's just let them graze for a few years. It won't be too late to go south when we are strong enough!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

In the open space in front of the tent, the governors of various tribes were laughing wildly, and Cheng Le also laughed happily.

Seeing this, Ponteler saluted and said, "Khan, we should lead our troops to Liangzhou now and order Liangzhou to open trade with the emperor."

"Also, we can't give up Fengzhou and Lingzhou, so that we can collect enough iron materials to make armor."

"Once we have built enough armor, we will take the opportunity to attack Zhang Yichao in the south and take over Gansu, Guashayi and other five states."

"Dugazhi and his men must have set their sights on Liangzhou. We can cooperate with them and capture Ganliang in the future, using Yanzhi Mountain as the boundary!"

"Good!" Chengle's eyes lit up. He had been coveting Ganzhou for a long time.

If he had not been weak at that time and had not been obstructed by Zhang Huaishen and Liu Jilian, he might have taken over Zhangye City long ago.

Now that the opportunity was before him, he seemed to have seen the scene of occupying the five states, taking the Western Regions, and unifying the Uighur tribes.

At that time, he will become the real Uighur Khan, and Liangzhou, which was given to Umu, will also be taken back by him.

He wanted to do what Tubo did in the past, forcing the Tang court back to the east of Longshan Mountain and dominating the western frontier.

A few days later, Zhang Yichao, who was in Dunhuang, also received an urgent message from Zhang Huaishen.

Due to time constraints, he received the first news that Zhang Huaishen learned that Chen Jingchong was transferred to the post of Governor of Lanzhou.

Therefore, in his opinion, Liu Jilian was very likely to conspire with the imperial court to divide the three states of Liang, Lan and Hui.

Even if Liu Jilong did not join in, he would not let go of Lanzhou and Guangwu County which were offered to him.

"How can the court do this!"

"We are guarding the border for the imperial court, why does the imperial court suspect us?"

In the main hall of the government office, since no one knew the court's intentions, they all thought that the court was targeting Zhang.

Therefore, apart from the officials of the Zhang family, most other officials kept silent. As Suo Xun and Li En were two major families that were won over by the court, it was naturally impossible for them to speak for the Zhang family.

Precisely because they kept silent, other officials from small and powerful families looked at them with strange eyes.

"Wang Jingyi, the three states of Gua, Sha and Su will each dispatch six regiments of troops to gather in Fulu County, Suzhou."

"Yes!"

Wang Jingyi bowed without thinking, and just as Zhang Huairong was about to ask for permission, he was glared back by Zhang Huaishen.

It’s just that although Zhang Huairong has vision, others don’t.

"Aye, let me and Jilang go!"

Zhang Yichao's eldest son Zhang Huaiquan stood up and brought his second son Zhang Huaiding with him.

Although the two brothers are already in their thirties, they are not as good as Zhang Huairong in scheming and marching and fighting, not to mention Zhang Huaishen.

It is precisely because they, the brothers, are unable to make progress that Zhang Yichao regards Zhang Huaishen as his successor.

Even though Zhang Huaishen was not his son, he knew that only Zhang Huaishen could maintain peace in Hexi.

It’s a pity that he thought of all the forces around Hexi, but he didn’t expect that the imperial court would take action against him.

If the imperial court continues to support various forces to restrain them, then after his death, Zhang Huaishen will probably be unable to handle the situation alone.

At this moment, a figure emerged in his mind. That was Liu Jilong, who established his own faction and conquered a large number of counties and cities in Longyou.

Although he had already overestimated Liu Jilong, the facts proved that he still underestimated him.

Or perhaps it could be said that Liu Jilian hid himself too well when he was in Hexi and did not show his inherent talents.

"If we had kept him here, would the outcome have been different..."

Zhang Yichao couldn't help but sigh, but the reality was there was no regret medicine to give him another chance to choose.

"In this campaign, I will personally lead the troops to Fulu, and the other states will be handed over to Huai Rong and Huai Quan."

Zhang Yichao made the decision, and Zhang Huairong and Zhang Huaiquan, who were called, bowed and responded quickly. Only Zhang Huaiding, the second son of Zhang Yichao, was not reused.

Because of this, Zhang Huaiding clenched his fists, and when he looked at his father, there was a hint of confusion and hatred in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)