Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 302: Handsome Opinion
"Uuuuuu——"

Among the snow-capped mountains, accompanied by the sound of horns, the former battle between the two heroes of Helong came to an end.

Shang Bibi, the daughter of the Lu family, died on the second day of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of the Xiantong reign. Her eldest son Shang Moyan was supported by all the generals as the leader.

As a noble, Shang Bibi was buried in a tomb built in Lie Mountain. Although the gold, silver and jewelry buried with her were not many, they were luxurious enough.

On the plateau, dying of illness at the age of 60 is considered a long life.

Because of this, although Shang Moyan and Shang Moye felt uncomfortable, they still accepted the reality.

As the burial was over, Shang Moyan returned to Jinchuan City and summoned Shang Moye.

"Brother..."

Shang Moye walked into the hall and saluted Shang Moyan, who was sitting in the main seat.

Looking at the thirty-eight-year-old Shang Moye, Shang Moyan, who had just turned forty, nodded with satisfaction and said:

"We have taken over Daowu City and Dajianlu. Now that my father is gone, I want to send people to build a city northwest of Daowu City and name it Kangcheng."

"From today on, you are the master of Kangcheng. The 500-mile radius of Kangcheng is your pasture."

"I will dispatch a thousand elite cavalrymen to serve as your guards, and transfer all the slaves from Daowu City and Dajianlu to Kangcheng as your subjects."

"When Cannes is built, you can go there and enjoy yourself."

Shang Moyan explained to Shang Moye, but Shang Moye clenched his fists and said, "Brother, I don't want to split up the family."

"Haha..." Shang Moyan thought that Shang Moye was reluctant to leave him, and said with a smile:

"You and I both have our own families. It's time to separate. Don't be like children."

Seeing that Shang Moyan didn't understand, Shang Moye couldn't help but said, "Brother, you are now the leader of the six hundred thousand people in the six garrisons of Duokang, and you have thirty thousand soldiers under your command."

"Liu Jilong is only the leader of Helong with 300,000 men, and his army is only 40,000. Could it be that you..."

"Shut up!!!"

Shang Moyan's face suddenly turned gloomy and he stopped Shang Moye from speaking nonsense.

"Three hundred thousand people, that was a thing of the past."

"Today's Helong is far more powerful than Duokang Liugang."

"If Liu Jilong can sweep away the heroes of Helong with 3,000 soldiers, he can sweep away the six ridges of Duokang with 40,000 troops."

"I was able to occupy the six posts of Duokang not because of my great talent, but because I had Liu Jilong supporting me from behind."

"I once swore to the gods that I would never betray Liu Jilong in this life."

"If you want to sow discord between me and him, then leave Jinchuan now. I will give you Daowu City, and Kangcheng will not need to be built!"

Shang Moyan said all this with a dark face, which Shang Moye could not accept: "Are you willing to be driven by a Han slave?!"

"Aren't the barbarians in the south planning to form an alliance with us to fight against the Tang Dynasty? We can take this opportunity to directly attack..."

"He is not a Han slave, and there are no Han slaves in Dokang Liugang!"

Shang Moyan interrupted him and no longer wanted to respond to him. He directly signaled to the soldier at the door:

"He's drunk, take him away!"

"Yes……"

Several soldiers walked into the hall and gestured to Shang Moye to leave.

Shang Moye clenched his fists, but finally obeyed and left the palace.

After he was taken away, Shang Moyan frowned. He had a premonition that Shang Morey's ideas were different from his, but he didn't expect that he would dare to challenge him in person.

He couldn't bear to kill this guy, after all, they were brothers.

But he knew very well that if Shang Moye's words reached Liu Jilong's ears, he would be in trouble.

After much deliberation, Shang Moyan decided to send people to build Cannes after the spring, expel Shang Moyi to Cannes, and no longer care about his life or death.

As for Shang Moye's words, he also wrote them in a letter and asked someone to send the letter to Longyou.

When Liu Jilong saw the letter, it was already New Year's Day.

"Crackling..."

The sound of firecrackers occasionally rang out in Didao City, and Liu Jilian sat in the main seat, holding Shang Moyan's letter in his hand.

Regarding the news of Shang Bibi's death, Liu Jilong could only sigh that his old friend would eventually grow old.

However, he began to ponder over Dali's attempt to win over Shang Moyan and Shang Moye's dissatisfaction with his control over the Six Gangs of Duokang.

He had long anticipated that as Shang Moyan gradually became stronger, many of his subordinates would oppose becoming a vassal of Longyou.

Now that Shang Moyan has unified the six regions of Dokang, his strength is enough to challenge the Tibetan royal families in Lhasa, not to mention his own "small" Longyou.

"General Jie, Shang Moye is not being honest. Should we let Shang Moye…"

Zhang Chang, who was sitting in the first seat on the left, stretched out his hand and gestured. Liu Jilong chuckled and said, "Don't worry."

"Although Shang Moyan has taken control of the Six Posts of Dokang, they are still very fragile today."

"Let's not talk about anything else. Just to say that 30% of the food rations for the 600,000 people in the six camps of Dokang come from us."

"If we don't sell them grain, they will have to move east to plunder Xichuan, or become our enemy."

"Let's not talk about whether Shang Moyan can defeat Cui Xuan. Even if he can, Cui Xuan of Xichuan still has Gao Pian of Dongchuan behind him."

Liu Jilian was well aware of Shang Moyan's abilities and knew that he could not be a match for Gao Pian.

The newly united Duokang Six Posts must rally people’s hearts with news of successive victories.

Once they suffer a major defeat or fall into a stalemate, the Duokang Six Gangs will gradually split.

Shang Bibi must have discussed these things with Shang Moyan before her death.

Therefore, the best path for Shang Moyan is still to rely on Longyou.

Liu Jilong was not wrong in his guess. Before Shang Bibi's death, she had indeed talked with Shang Moyan about the future of Duokang Liugang.

Shang Moyan had sent people to inquire about the situation in Xichuan and Dali, but the grain prices in Xichuan and Dali had soared due to the war.

Even though the two sides are now in a stalemate on the front line, the price of food in the rear still changes every day.

A sheep sold in Longyou could be exchanged for 200 kilograms of grain, but if sold in Xichuan it could only be exchanged for 150 kilograms of grain, and if sold in Dali it could be exchanged for 170 kilograms of grain.

From this we can also see what the benefits of relying on Longyou are.

It is for this reason that Shang Moyan was so eager to show himself to Liu Jilong.

If he wanted to create a new dynasty ruled by the Meilu family, he needed Liu Jilong's support and even more so, supplies from Longyou.

Just as the Ming and Qing dynasties controlled the snowy areas with tea, Liu Jilian is now using grain to control Duokang Liugang.

As the climate environment on the plateau continues to deteriorate, Liu Jilian will be able to follow the example of the Ming and Qing dynasties and use tea to control the entire snow-covered plateau.

While thinking, Liu Jilong put the letter on the table and looked at Zhang Chang:
"What changes have taken place in Guannei Province, Gyeonggi Province, Jiannan Province, and Shannanxi Province in recent days?"

"There hasn't been much change. Li Chengxun of Qinlong and Zhang Zhifang of Shuofang are both inferior to ordinary people. Their military training is far inferior to that when Gao Pian was in charge of Qinlong."

"Lu Jun of Shannan West Road doesn't care about anything at all. More than 10,000 people from Shannan West Road have fled to Longyou this year, and nearly 20,000 people have been sold into Longyou through horse trafficking."

"But after Choi Hyun recruited 30,000 soldiers, the number of refugees did decrease last month."

"In the previous few months, there were 6,000 to 7,000 people, but last month there were less than 3,000 people."

Zhang Chang said this, and was also surprised: "Besides, this guy is really patient. He has been in Xichuan for so long, but he hasn't come to us to buy horses yet."

"I'm afraid it's because we don't have enough money and food." Liu Jilong chuckled, and Zhang Chang said awkwardly:

"There are millions of people in Xichuan, so there shouldn't be a shortage of money and food..."

"You think it's simple." Liu Jilong shook his head and explained to Zhang Chang:
"After the Tang court eliminated the three towns of Heshuo, there should have been more than 40 million people paying taxes. But why did the Tang court only collect less than 20 million strings of cash in taxes, forcing the people to go bankrupt?"

"Don't forget what the Censorate is investigating..."

He reminded Zhang Chang, and Zhang Chang finally responded: "You mean all the officials in the court are corrupt?"

"Well, it's not a secret. If you pay attention, you can find it out."

Liu Jilong looked at Zhang Chang helplessly and reminded him: "Don't rest on your laurels. Only by communicating with people outside can you understand what's going on in the world."

Zhang Chang has indeed been lying low in recent years, so when Liu Jilong reminded him of this, he couldn't help but blush.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong continued to explain: "Many of the officials used by the court to collect taxes have no salary at all, so they satisfy their needs by exploiting the people."

"The 20 million guan is the tax they paid, and there is still some that they haven't paid privately."

"Those high-ranking officials in the court only look at what has been handed in, but not what has not been handed in."

"That's why they think there's room for tax increase." "If you're out of touch with the people for a long time and don't know the burdens of the people, you'll end up like this group of people, thinking there's room for tax increase."

"How could I!" Zhang Chang quickly denied:
"Marshal Jie, you know me well. I don't want that many things. I just want to eat something good. Two or three women are enough."

Zhang Chang is indeed a person who is easily contented. Compared to him, others are not.

"I heard that Cuo Ben took in another concubine a few days ago?"

Liu Jilong leaned back in his chair and questioned Zhang Chang. Zhang Chang opened his mouth and finally nodded.

"Is this his seventh concubine?"

Liu Jilong spoke calmly. Zhang Chang nodded immediately and said, "It's the seventh one, but he probably won't take another concubine."

"That would be the best." Liu Jilian did not object to his generals taking wives and concubines. After all, he himself had a wife and seven concubines.

What's more, because of the war, there are more women than men in Longyou, so taking a concubine and having children is considered a good thing.

If one takes concubines without restraint, it will affect the lives of the people below.

If Feng Hui had not requested it, Liu Jilian would not have agreed to her continuing to take concubines.

He also felt a sense of novelty, but the one wife and three concubines in his inner courtyard were enough to satisfy him, not to mention the one wife and seven concubines he has now.

He did not continue to take concubines because he was worried that the generals below might follow suit.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong reminded Zhang Chang: "Don't remind him too obviously, just stop here."

"Yes!" Zhang Chang nodded quickly, and Liu Jilong did not continue to teach him. He just chatted with him about other topics and then ended the conversation.

As for Shang Moyan's letter, Liu Jilong simply replied in handwritten letter asking him to take good care of Shang Moye, and did not ask him to do anything to Shang Moye.

He had already figured out Shang Moyan's character, so he dared to support him so boldly.

If Shang Moyan had killed Shang Moye immediately when the incident happened, Liu Jilong would have to consider whether to change the person he supported.

While he was replying to Shang Moyan, You Shilong of Dali was also getting anxious because he couldn't wait for Shang Moyan's reply.

"The barbarians are cowardly. The Tang court is so weak, why wouldn't they dare to respond?"

Surrounded by high mountains and on the north bank of a large lake, You Shilong, who lives in Tuodong City, couldn't help but complain a few words.

Although it was the cold winter of December, the Tuodong City of that era was still warm, living up to the saying of "Spring City" in later generations.

As the secondary capital of Dali, Tuodong City has been run by Dali for nearly a hundred years. Its scale is not small, but its population is not large.

The entire Tuodong City has a circumference of six miles and a population of only 30,000. Although there are large tracts of flat land facing the lake around it, the cultivated land is only a few hundred thousand acres.

You Shilong led his troops back to Tuodong City, intending to rest here to spend the cold winter, and then instigate Shang Moyan to rebel, letting Shang Moyan raise an army to tie down the troops of Xichuan, giving himself enough time and opportunity to attack Rongzhou.

What he didn't expect was that more than two months had passed since he sent out his letter, but Shang Moyan still hadn't replied.

With only two months left, the cold wave in Rongzhou will gradually fade away, and You Shilong can no longer sit and wait for death.

He withdrew his gaze and turned his attention to the several Qingping officials in the palace of Tuodong City.

Duan Zongbang, Yang Jisi and Du Yuanzhong led their troops to confront the Dongchuan army on the Rongzhou front line.

Dong Cheng was stationed in Yangzhumie City, constantly raising food and barbarian soldiers from Yongchang, Kaiman and other places.

Fan Cuixie led an army of 30,000 to garrison in Shizhou and built a defense line along the Dadu River to guard against a counterattack by the Tang army in Xichuan.

Today, the Dali court is fully operational, with 150,000 troops assembled in the three places of Shezhou, Rongzhou and Tuodong, consuming money and food every moment.

Although Dali suffered occasional setbacks in the past two years of war, it has generally begun to expand its territory.

The number of people looted from Shezhou, Lizhou, Bozhou, Juzhou, Tianzhou, and Yongzhou alone was no less than 150,000.

Although Dali has a population of two to three million, only a little over one million of them are directly under the jurisdiction of Dali, and the remaining nearly two million are barbarian tribes that are dependent on Dali.

For these tribes, great gifts can only be levied in times of war, and tributes can only be collected in times of peace.

The main reason why You Shilong dared to turn against the Tang Dynasty was that the country had enjoyed peace for thirty years, and he had obtained a lot of resources from the southern countries such as Pyu, Zhenla, and Linyi in the past thirty years, so he was confident to go to war with the declining Tang Dynasty.

Originally, he wanted to take advantage of the Tang Dynasty's unpreparedness and have the army first capture Shezhou, Lizhou, Rongzhou, then Annan, and finally occupy the entire Qianzhong area, moving the battlefield to Bashu and Lingxi.

As a result, he overestimated Dali's army and underestimated the Tang army, which had enjoyed peace for a long time.

Although they successfully invaded Jiannan Road and Qianzhong Road, they only captured Shezhou, half of Lizhou and half of Rongzhou.

Annan was impregnable under Wang Shi's defense, and Gao Pian of Dongchuan was particularly difficult to deal with, which thwarted You Shilong's plan to take Rongzhou and Qianzhong. So the war changed from a quick victory at the beginning to a protracted battle of national strength.

Although there is still a lot of money and grain in Dali's official warehouses, if the confrontation continues for a long time, the barbarians who depend on Dali will become restless, and You Shilong has to be on guard.

"Does Dong Qingping have anything to say?"

While thinking, You Shilong collected his thoughts and asked Zhao Nuomei in front of him with a tentative look.

Zhao Nuomei saluted and responded, "Dong Qingping said that Your Majesty should not continue to attack Rongzhou, but should hold on."

"The Tang Dynasty is a big beast after all. Even though it is old, it is still not something we can tear apart."

"It is already a pleasant surprise that we can take over Shizhou now."

"What we need to do next is to wait for the wounds of the beast of the Tang Dynasty to rot and stink. When the beast becomes sick, that will be the best time for us to continue to send troops."

Dong Cheng's words were a little evasive, but easy to understand.

He was not optimistic that You Shilong could continue to expand his victory. The current situation was already the best one.

If we continue to attack, we will certainly not gain any benefit from the gift. It is better to wait quietly for changes to occur within the Tang Dynasty. That will be the best time to continue to mobilize troops.

If a king in his forties had listened to Dong Cheng's words, he would definitely have listened to them, but Yu Shilong was not like that.

He is only nineteen years old now, at the prime of his youth.

At this time, the more Dong Cheng persuaded him, the more he refused to accept it.

Because of this, after Zhao Nuomei told Dong Cheng about his advice, You Shilong laughed angrily: "It seems that Dong Qingping has grown old and timid."

"Although he is old, I am still young and strong, and I will never give in to Li Tang!"

He stood up slowly, facing Zhao Nuomei and Yang Qiuqing, and gave the order: "Order the 100,000 troops stationed in Tuodong City to march to Rongzhou in February of the spring."

"This time next year, I will hold a banquet in Bodao City and celebrate the New Year with you all!"

"Your Majesty the Holy Spirit!!"

Zhao Nuomei and Yang Qiuqing bowed and sang, which further strengthened You Shilong's determination to go north.

Before the army moves, food and fodder must go first...

After Yu Shilong's military order was issued, Zhao Nuomei began to send troops to transport food and fodder to Zhuti and Qingjin.

In order to prevent Gao Pian's elite cavalry from raiding the grain route, each grain transport team was guarded by at least 500 elite cavalry.

Dali's actions were quickly observed by the soldiers sent by Gao Pian, who promptly delivered the information to Zongzhou City.

After receiving the information, Gao Pian immediately guessed what You Shilong was thinking.

"Sure enough, this guy wants to take Rongzhou as his target. It seems that he wants to take the south bank of the Yangtze River after taking the south bank of the Dadu River."

"By then, relying on Qingxi Pass and Baidao City, he will be able to move the battlefield to the heart of Bashu and use war to support war."

In Zongzhou City, Gao Pian threw the information in his hand into the brazier and watched it burn to ashes.

Wang Zhongren, who was standing beside him, bowed and said, "General, mobilize the troops!"

"Well, it's time to mobilize the troops..."

Gao Pian nodded and said in an orderly manner: "Order Liang Zun to lead 9,000 cavalry south and station in Xunzhou before the Lantern Festival."

"Order Lu Ruyue to lead 7,000 infantrymen to station in Zongzhou, and Zhang Lin to lead the elite cavalry to withdraw to Zongzhou."

"Tell General Lin Ruzhen that there is no need to defend Pinzhou. If Chief Long leads a large army, we can retreat to Xunzhou in time."

"Isn't that Chief Long planning to attack Rongzhou? Then I will lure you into a trap and cut off his arm, so that he will never dare to invade my base again!"

Gao Pian's eyes flashed with brilliance, but Wang Zhongren said worriedly: "If we lose Pinzhou, even if the barbarian army is frustrated, it will not be easy for us to attack the city..."

"No!" Gao Pian interrupted him, looked at him and said:

"Don't forget, the catapults in our army are far superior to those of the barbarians. With these catapults, we can recover the lost territory."

"As long as the barbarian army doesn't dare to invade Rongzhou, they will definitely turn to attack Lingxi, Lizhou, and Annan."

"No matter where they invade, as long as we can defeat the government troops and plunder the people... it will show my merits in shocking the barbarians in Rongzhou."

"As long as I have this achievement, nothing else matters!"

Faced with Gao Pian's cold words, Wang Zhongren's Adam's apple moved, and he opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.

"General Jie, your opinion is great..."

(End of this chapter)