Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 149 Wang Bo's Secret Mission

In the brief moment that Li Xian was stunned, Liu Jianjun stood up and whispered in Li Xian's ear, "This is also a dead man."

Li Xian suddenly realized.

The dead people Liu Jianjun mentioned represented people who could be completely trusted.

Therefore, although Li Xian did not quite understand how Xue Zhongzhang, Pei Yan's nephew, could be trusted by Liu Jianjun, he still stepped forward and lifted Xue Zhongzhang up.

"Xue..."

"Liu Changshi is not used to using courtesy names, so Your Highness Prince Pei may simply call me by my given name!" Xue Zhongzhang cupped his hands again, displaying a certain martial demeanor in his actions.

"Then I'll call you Zhongzhang. Zhongzhang, this is..."

Li Xian looked at Liu Jianjun and Wang Bo, trying to get an explanation from them.

Liu Jianjun pulled him down to sit.

There were only three stone stools next to the stone table. Liu Jianjun then went to his melon shed, dragged over the reclining chair, and sat down next to Li Xian. Only then did he speak: "Old Xue, you know my identity now. I am the actual strategist and commander in charge of the Yangzhou rebellion."

"Xu Jingye was the one who brought Yangzhou to the city."

Li Xian nodded.

"At that time, Yangzhou, with 100,000 scattered soldiers, resisted the first wave of encirclement and suppression by the imperial army of 300,000. It was he who commanded them," Liu Jianjun continued.

Li Xian then looked at Xue Zhongzhang in surprise.

Xue Zhongzhang humbly cupped his hands and said, "Chief Secretary Liu is too kind. I merely took advantage of the situation where I could wait in comfort."

Liu Jianjun waved his hand and said, "Old Xue, don't be modest. On the battlefield, it's all about using your strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. Only a fool would try to fight head-on with someone else."

Then, looking at Li Xian, he continued, "After winning the battle, the rebels had a disagreement. One group advocated taking Luoyang directly, while the other group advocated establishing their own territory. Old Xue was completely disappointed with this group and left early."

"Of course, we owe this to Lao Wang's help." Liu Jianjun pointed to Wang Bo. "Before we set off for Luoyang, I sent Lao Wang out to keep in touch with Luo Binwang. Luo Binwang is stubborn and we couldn't persuade him to come back, but Lao Xue is much more flexible and came back with Wang Bo."

"The rest was simple. Xu Jingye and his men were just a bunch of scattered soldiers. Without a proper military commander like Lao Xue, they suffered defeat after defeat and were soon scattered."

"Of course, I knew about these things a few days earlier than you."

"But in any case, we finally have a capable general on our side."

Li Xian roughly understood the whole story. He stood up and solemnly cupped his hands to Xue Zhongzhang, saying, "Having Zhongzhang is like receiving rain after a long drought. Chang'an is in dire need of rebuilding and is in dire need of capable people. There is no need to mention the past. In the future, I will need Zhongzhang's strong support!"

Liu Jianjun is right. Although he is now a prince, his foundation is weak and he urgently needs a general with practical experience like Xue Zhongzhang.

Xue Zhongzhang hurriedly bowed: "Your Highness is too kind! I am already extremely fortunate that Your Highness, Chief Secretary Liu, and Brother Zi'an have not abandoned me, despite my criminal record. I dare not fail to do my utmost!"

At this moment, Liu Jianjun smoothed things over, saying, "Alright, we're all on the same side, let's skip the formalities and get down to business. Xianzi, listen to what Old Wang has to say." Upon hearing this, Wang Bo's smile faded, and his expression turned serious. He took out a scroll of paper covered in writing and drawing from his sleeve: "Your Highness, Chief Secretary, I have been ordered by the Chief Secretary to use the guise of a travelogue to actually investigate the transportation between Yongzhou and other regions, especially the water transport..."

Li Xian asked in surprise: "Water transport?"

Liu Jianjun casually explained, "Cotton, didn't you see that there were already signs of a severe drought this winter? There's a severe drought in Guanzhong, so we need to take the cotton to the areas outside the pass, especially the Jiangnan region, to exchange for grain. Water transport is especially important. Lao Wang, go on."

Wang Bo spread the blueprints out on the stone table and pointed to the rivers and markings on them, explaining, "Your Highness, please take a look. I have mainly surveyed the Wei River, the canal, and the waterway leading to Jingzhou and Xiangyang via Lantian Wuguan."

"As the Chief Secretary has worried, there has been little snow this winter. If there is continued little rain after the start of spring, the water level of the Wei River will inevitably drop, and the passage of large cargo ships may be blocked."

He pointed to several key points: "At that time, our supplies will need to be transferred at Tongguan, Shanzhou and other places to transfer to shallower boats, or partially transferred to land transport. This will be time-consuming, laborious and costly. The same will be true for grain ships entering the country."

"What's even more troublesome is..."

Wang Bo's expression turned serious: "According to my observations and inquiries along the way, the transport affairs at these key points are mostly controlled by local powerful families and even certain... aristocratic families closely related to the Eastern Capital."

"If they join forces to make things difficult, even if we have the goods, whether they can be delivered smoothly, and what the cost will be after delivery, are all unknown."

Liu Jianjun paused, then asked, "What about Liu Rengui?"

Wang Bo replied, "Although Minister Liu is highly respected and in charge of all affairs of the garrison, he is not able to oversee the specific aspects of the canal transport, especially the waterways and wharves east of Tongguan, and it is difficult for him to be involved in everything."

Li Xian then explained, "Zi'an is quite right. When it comes to these powerful local families, they often form alliances with high-ranking officials in the court through marriage. They share both prosperity and adversity."

"Liu Rengui may have enough prestige, but his primary responsibility is to stabilize Chang'an. He will not easily provoke these local bullies unless necessary."

Liu Jianjun sighed and asked, "Is there any way to cooperate with them...?"

But before he could finish speaking, he rejected the idea, saying, "Forget it. Cooperating with them is like asking a tiger for its skin. If these powerful families find out about the profits from cotton, they will probably try to devour it all. They would never be willing to share only a small portion."

"Okay, Lao Wang."

Wang Bo sat upright and solemnly.

"Among the waterways you've surveyed, are there any smaller, less conspicuous tributaries or old waterways that are still passable by small and medium-sized boats? Even if it involves taking a longer route, as long as you can avoid those heavily guarded nodes, it will be fine."

Upon hearing this, Wang Bo immediately pointed to the map and said, "Yes! For example, the Feng River, a tributary of the Wei River, is shallow, but in years of abundant water, small boats can pass through, and its upstream can also connect to the land route to Shangluo..."

“Yes! That’s the kind we should look for!” Liu Jianjun slapped his thigh. “Find a few more. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The cotton business is a golden goose right now. Even if we incur some extra costs in transportation, it doesn’t matter.”

"In addition, there are some foreign merchants in our Chang'an City. Since Empress Wu moved to Luoyang, their business has become increasingly bleak. However, they have been traveling between East and West for many years and have their own channels and connections. We can find a few foreign merchants with good reputations and relatively simple backgrounds to cooperate with."

“Use their name to ship, transport, and exchange goods for grain, share some of the profits with them, and most importantly, use their name to avoid a lot of open and covert attacks.”

……

(End of this chapter)