Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 341: Young and Strong Are Hard to Control
"The sky is blue, the fields are vast, the wind blows the grass and you can see the cattle and sheep..."

In mid-March, with the start of spring ploughing, the land of Helong was filled with people, and every household sang folk songs and worked hard.

Outside the city of Didao, tens of thousands of people drove animal power and used the constantly improved Hexi plow to easily reclaim arable land.

After all, Didao was the seat of the Longyou Protectorate, and many officials moved here for government affairs, so there were many manors, villas and mountain villas outside the city.

For example, there are more than ten mountain villas of various sizes built on the hillside of Phoenix Mountain, the large ones covering several acres and the small ones covering only a few acres.

Li Ji's villa was built on the mountainside, and the trees in front of the villa were cut down, so there was no obstruction to the view and the whole land of Linzhou could be seen.

The back room, which was supposed to be a resting place for the servants, was renovated into a five-story building by Li Ji, making the view even better.

In the observation building, Li Ji, Ma Cheng, Shang Duoluo and others were sitting on the fifth floor. The long floor-to-ceiling windows were opened, allowing them to have a full view of the scenery.

The maid brought up cakes, all of which were new techniques brought by Xichuan craftsmen. Various kinds of flower cakes and aged rice wine were placed on the table.

Li Ji sat in the main seat and personally boiled wine on the tea stove.

After being roasted for three minutes, the aroma of wine gradually spread, causing Ma Cheng and Shang Duoluo to nod slightly.

At this time, footsteps were heard on the stairs, and Cui Shu's figure appeared at the stairs.

"General Cui, please take a seat."

Li Ji gestured with his hand and Cui Shu sat down in a seat.

No one spoke. After waiting for a long time, footsteps were heard on the stairs again. This time, the person coming was Cao Mao.

"Huai Min is here, please sit down."

Seeing Cao Mao coming, Li Ji's face broke into a smile, while Cao Mao walked silently to sit beside him.

"Brother, why did you call me here?"

A few days ago, Cao Mao was in Weizhou with his own commander-in-chief dealing with Yang Zhiwen and others.

If he had not needed to go to Lanzhou to spy on the military intelligence of the Shuofang Army and incite riots among the Hu people, he would not have passed through Linzhou and received Li Ji's invitation.

Cao Mao didn't want to come, but in order to find out Li Ji's thoughts, he chose to come.

"Huai Min, we have followed Marshal Jie from Suzhou to now, for thirteen years, right?"

Li Ji did not answer directly, but continued: "In the past six or seven years, we fought against Tubo, defeated Lunkongre, and recovered the lost territories of Gansu, Liang, Longyou, etc."

"Later, the commander said that Longyou was in ruins and needed to recuperate. I also thought that made sense. After all, at that time, the combined population of Hexi and Longyou was less than 500,000."

"In the following years, even when the imperial court provoked us, the commander-in-chief advised us to put the overall situation first and be patient."

"It is now the fifth year of Xiantong. There are more than 900,000 people and more than 50,000 soldiers and horses under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate."

"There are some things I've wanted to tell you for a long time..."

Li Ji brought the rice wine down with a coarse cloth, and then slowly poured wine for several people.

After the rice wine was poured into the cup, he continued, "When Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei were causing trouble, I had an idea."

"Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei are not as talented as my subordinates Liu Yingyan, Wang Sifeng and others, but they can dominate the Guannei and Hedong with their 3,000 elite cavalry."

"We have 50,000 soldiers. If we work together, we can help the commander achieve great things!"

Li Ji expressed his ideas in detail, which made Ma Cheng, Shang Duoluo and Cui Shu nod in agreement.

"Brother, Marshal Jie said that the time is not right yet."

Cao Mao's frown relaxed slightly. He was most worried that Li Ji had other thoughts.

But now it seems that Li Ji is still his brother, and still Brother Li who is loyal to the commander-in-chief.

"Timing?" Li Ji asked Cao Mao, then laughed and said:
"During my years in Minzhou, I read a lot of books, especially the history books that Marshal Jie sent me."

"But after looking around, I feel that all the major events in the world are nothing more than the struggle to become the emperor."

"Others can be the emperor, why can't the military commander be one?"

"Don't forget, Marshal Ji's last name is Liu..."

Li Ji's words cheered up Ma Cheng and Shang Duoluo, but Cao Mao frowned and said:

"Marshal Jie said that his ancestors were not from a wealthy family."

"It's not important." Li Ji interrupted him and continued:

"You've read so many books, don't you know the prophecy of the golden knife?"

The prophecy of the golden knife, a prophecy that has been around since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, implies that the Liu family will rise again and hold power in the world.

Some people say that this prophecy was spread deliberately by Liu Xiu for the sake of his own legitimacy.

Others say that this is a prophecy spread from God to the people.

In any case, the prophecy of the golden knife was passed down from the end of the Western Han Dynasty to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and it gradually lost its power after the Zhao family came to the throne.

Because of this, since the end of the Han Dynasty, whenever there was chaos in the world, there would always be people with the surname Liu who stood up to stir up trouble.

Even if they have nothing to do with the surname Liu, as long as they change their surname to Liu and spread the prophecy of the golden knife, they can quickly instigate a group of people to support the people with the surname Liu and cause chaos.

From the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the Liu surname was undoubtedly the most common surname in rebellion.

Even though it is the Tang Dynasty now, the power of the Golden Sword Prophecy has not diminished. It seems that any official with the surname Liu who has some power will be suspected.

Some officials who like to slander officials with the surname Liu often use the Golden Knife Prophecy to slander others.

Even if it fails, it will leave a knot in the hearts of rulers other than the Liu family.

It can be said that the Liu surname was badly harmed by the Golden Knife Prophecy. Although it was a big surname, the rulers were wary of it because of a prophecy, and it could not produce famous families like the Five Prominent Families and Seven Surnames.

Thinking of this, Cao Mao's expression changed slightly, but he still said: "Brother, do you believe this kind of prophecy?"

"I don't believe others, but what if it's the general?" Li Ji continued to ask Cao Mao. Cao Mao didn't want to fall into self-proving, so he changed the subject:

"It is impossible for the general to rebel now. If you want me to persuade the general to start a rebellion, I'm afraid you have found the wrong person."

After Cao Mao finished speaking, Li Ji suddenly said, "We have been recuperating for so many years, and each of us has grown from our twenties to our thirties and forties."

"Jie Shuai is already thirty years old now. If we continue to wait, how many more years will he have left to compete for the throne?"

"I heard that the commander asked you to instigate the Hu people in the Shuofang Army to cause chaos, but how many years will it take to carry out this plan?"

"The Shuofang army has only 5,000 soldiers and Zhang Zhifang is a drunkard."

"If the general asks, my subordinate Liu Yingyan can lead 5,000 soldiers to defeat them and take over the four states under the jurisdiction of the Shuofang Army."

"Even if the imperial court sends the Shen Ce Army and the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing to attack us, we can repel them and even seize the lands inside the pass, Jiannan, and Guanzhong."

Li Ji kept encouraging Cao Mao, but Cao Mao remained firm.

"I don't want to get involved in these things. I just know that the commander has his own ideas, and I just need to follow his arrangements."

After he finished speaking, Cao Mao stood up and bowed to the others: "I am busy with government affairs, so I will not have dinner with you brothers."

He turned and walked downstairs. Seeing this, Ma Cheng frowned slightly: "Cao boy doesn't agree, Geng Ming and Zhang Chang are stubborn, Chen Jingchong and Gao Jinda don't respond, what should we do now?"

Ma Cheng was anxious. No one could refuse the opportunity to follow the dragon unless he became that dragon.

But in the hearts of the generals in Longyou, that dragon could only be Liu Jilong.

Ma Cheng is still in good health, but he is always worried because he will be sixty years old in a few years.

Although Ma Yi is quite talented, he also needs time to grow.

It is very difficult to get promoted in peacetime. The only way to get promoted is to provoke a war.

In order to prevent his family from being lonely, the only thing Ma Cheng could think of was to at least support Ma Yi to become the governor of a state before his death.

There were quite a few provincial governors in their twenties, at least in Longyou.

But that was ten years ago, when Helong was in turmoil and there were wars every year.

Now that Helong is peaceful and there is no war to fight, Ma Yi can only follow the Tuhun punitive army to Fushi City and serve as an ordinary soldier.

According to the rules set by Liu Jilian for the students of Linzhou University, Ma Yi still needs to serve as a soldier for more than a year, and then continue to serve as a guard for two years before he can be granted an official position.

There was a shortage of official positions in Longyou, and Ma Cheng did not think that Ma Yi would be able to get any high-ranking official position. It was very likely that he would just be a ninth-rank or eighth-rank official.

According to the performance evaluation rules of Longyou, it would take Ma Yi at least sixteen years to become the governor of a state.

Sixteen years later, Ma Chengdu was already seventy years old, which was a very old age in all dynasties. He did not have the confidence that he could protect Ma Yi until that time.

Because of this, Li Ji's words quickly convinced him. In addition, Shang Duoluo and Cui Shu were also persuaded for the future of their descendants.

Facing the gazes of the three people, Li Ji hesitated for a moment, picked up the wine glass and took a sip: "I have my own way..."

Following his response, the three of them gradually withdrew their gazes.

At the same time, Cao Mao, who had walked out of the mountain villa, turned over, mounted his horse, and walked down the mountain with several guards.

On the way down the mountain, he actually had some intention in his heart, but he quickly suppressed this intention.

Compared with Ma Cheng, Shang Duo, Cui Shu and others, he is still very young and has even just started a family. There is no need to be so anxious.

Even if his own commander-in-chief did not raise troops until twenty years later, he still had time to wait.

However, he was a little hesitant as to whether he should explain this matter clearly to Marshal Ji.

From Shanshu to Duhufu, he thought about it over and over again, and decided to write the matter in a handwritten letter and send it to Weizhou.

The next day, he led more than ten guards to Lanzhou in a hurry.

It was three days later when Liu Jilong received the letter.

Facing the contents of the letter, he sighed and looked at Chen Ying in front of him: "Settle the messenger and give him a good meal. Go back in two days."

"Yes!" Chen Ying didn't know what the content of the letter was. He just bowed in response, then turned and walked out of the hall of the yamen.

After he left, Liu Jilian threw the letter into the incense burner and burned it, but did not deal with the matter.

He knew in his heart that the attitude of Li Ji and his colleagues was not just the attitude of a few of them, but the attitude of most officials in the Protectorate.

Since ancient times, the strategic determination of the young and vigorous groups has been relatively weak. Their current goal is to desire war and merit, and they cannot be suppressed.

Li Ji represented the ideas of young generals in the Protectorate, such as Liu Yingyan and Wang Sifeng.

In their view, Longyou is strong enough to deal with any situation.

Liu Jilong's move to expand the military made them misunderstand Liu Jilong's attitude.

If one Li Ji is suppressed, another Li Ji will come to the fore. It is impossible for him to kill all those who hold such ideas.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong called to the soldier at the door, "Go and call Gao Changshi."

"Yes!" The soldier bowed and saluted, and soon called Gao Jinda from the main hall to the middle hall.

Trade with the imperial court continued, and Yang Zhiwen and Zhang Huaiquan were still in Longxi County, but the laborers were replaced by one batch after another.

However, compared with the first batch of 3,000 laborers and 3,000 horse-drawn carts, the number of laborers, horses and ox-drawn carts sent by Qinzhou this time reached more than 20,000.

If the upper reaches of the Wei River were not navigable, Gao Jinda would probably have wanted to send ships to transport the grain directly to Chang'an.

"General, you summoned me here, but what's the urgent matter?"

Gao Jinda was busy settling accounts in the main hall. Normally, Liu Jilong would definitely not interrupt him, but now that he was summoned here, it must be for something important.

When Liu Jilong heard him asking, he immediately told Gao Jinda about Li Ji and the others, and said thoughtfully:
"There are many people in the palace who think this way. It looks like we have to mobilize our troops..."

Gao Jinda frowned when he heard this and said, "Didn't they send General Cao to sow discord between the Han and the Hu people in Shuofang Town? They can't even wait for such a short time?"

Liu Jilong shook his head and explained: "Even if the instigation succeeds, the most we can do is to seize Huizhou and Beiwuzhou."

"Two states are clearly not enough for them."

"It just so happens that Cui Xuan in the south has started to ban fugitives from the border since he obtained a large number of horses from us through the trade. I asked Shang Duoluo to contact Shang Moyan and let Shang Moyan form an alliance with the Nanman in order to deceive Cui Xuan."

"Now that their alliance has not yet been reached, I am wondering whether we should let Shang Moyan send troops to attack Weizhou, Maozhou, Yizhou, Longzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou and other places."

The five states mentioned by Liu Jilong basically belong to the western and northern gates of Xichuan, located in the Qionglai Mountains and the Qishan Mountains.

The population of these five states is not large, most of them fled to Longyou. Now, the five states combined may have less than 30,000 people.

"These five states are geographically important, but seem to have a sparse population. Taking them won't increase our strength much, and it will also cause dissatisfaction in the court. Should we..."

Gao Jinda hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively: "Is it too risky?"

Shang Moyan was supported by Liu Jilian, and the court naturally knew about it.

If Shang Moyan and Dali joined forces to invade Xichuan, the court would definitely think of Liu Jilian.

Liu Jilong naturally thought of this, but he had to resolve internal conflicts.

With the help of Shang Moyan, he captured the five states, then recovered the five states in the name of repelling Shang Moyan, and finally went south to repel Dali in the name of rescuing Xichuan, plundered the population and went north to enrich the five newly recovered states.

This move, at least in name, will allow Longyou to stand firm.

If the imperial court was dissatisfied and sent troops to Longyou, he could also send troops in the name of counterattack to recover the two states of Qin and Long and the four states of Shuofang.

Now in the Central Plains, Wang Xianzhi and Pang Xun are causing chaos, in the south there is provocation from Linyi, and in the southwest there is Dali as a support.

Even though Liu Jilong did not want to start a war, this was indeed a good opportunity.

By controlling Qin, Long, Qionglai and Qishan states, he could occupy Guannei in the north, control Jiannan in the south, and advance into Guanzhong in the east.

Given the current situation, it is no wonder that Li Ji and others are so anxious.

“There is a risk, but if it succeeds, the benefits are not small.”

The temperament of the Tang court can be seen from the fact that Li Guochang and Li Keyong failed in their rebellion and were invited back from Tatar by the Tang court.

If the Tang court was defeated in Longyou, Liu Jilian did not believe that Li Yi had the determination to persist in fighting.

Even if he was determined, the Tang court's finances could not support a long-term war.

At least from the communication between Liu Jilong and Yang Zhiwen in the past few days, because of the rebellion of Wang Xianzhi and Pang Xun, the taxes from Jiangnan and Huainan could not be delivered to Guanzhong.

In addition, Henan Province was also severely harmed by the two.

Among the forty or so states in the Hehuai region, production in seven states has been destroyed, and the population has been either massacred or robbed, becoming refugees.

Even if Wang Xianzhi and Pang Xun could be pacified, it would not be easy to restore production in these seven states with a population of nearly two million.

The Tang court did not consider anything else but these refugees, and they would not fight to the death with him.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong instructed Gao Jinda:

"If the court continues to purchase grain, then we will continue to trade old grain with them."

"In addition, the silk and satin and money obtained from the court were used to exchange for spices and to buy new grain in the market."

"Yes!" Gao Jinda agreed first, and then asked the question:

"General, since you are going to let Shang Moyan attack Xichuan, why do we still need to maintain grain trade with the court? It would be better to store the grain in the government warehouse and wait for the needs of future wars."

"No need!" Liu Jilong shook his head and continued:

"Trading grain with the imperial court is also a way to gain leverage over the imperial court."

"The food supply of millions of people in Guanzhong is in our hands. Even if the imperial court is dissatisfied, it needs to solve the food problem first before taking action against us."

"What's more, the people in Longyou have enough food and clothing, and the government warehouses have new old grain to deal with every year. Replacing the old grain is also an extremely important step."

"Given the number of people in Guanzhong, even if we sell a million dan of grain every year, it can only solve their expenses for two or three months. The court cannot store the grain."

"When a war breaks out, we have to transport the grain from Jiangnan to Chang'an, and then transport it to the front line by land."

"With such a long distance to transport food and fodder, how many months can the imperial court fight us?"

Liu Jilong asked Gao Jinda in return, and Gao Jinda bowed and said, "General, your opinion is great..."

"It's not a good idea..." Liu Jilong shook his head:
"If possible, I would like to continue to recuperate."

"Although Wang Xianzhi and Pang Xun have already taken the lead, it is hard to say what their potential is."

"If we face a tough battle in the future, I hope the people of Helong will not hate me..."

Hearing this, Gao Jinda also sighed, thinking that this was the disadvantage of having too many young and strong generals.

Compared with these elderly people in their fifties, the young men in their twenties and thirties are still too radical and eager for success.

"You go down and first settle the grain trade with the imperial court. Once the imperial court becomes dependent on our grain, we will be able to better deal with the dissatisfaction of the imperial court."

"Yes……"

At Liu Jilian's signal, Gao Jinda bowed respectfully in return and then walked out of the hall.

As he watched him leave, Liu Jilong's mind flashed with the faces of Li Ji and others, and he couldn't help but feel irritated...

(End of this chapter)