Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

The two gave instructions on the arrangements and then continued playing chess.

"Brother Yin, I think our lord is calm and composed, and he plans things out before he acts. Why was he so hasty when he raised an army in Qi? The Bozhou army didn't even have a chance to set out to fight."

"Sigh, Yu'er was too hasty back then, but she has finally learned from her experience."

"Yes, that's for the best."

At this moment on the chessboard, Wang Fangde's black piece suddenly broke through the eye point, causing the slow and steady game to suddenly become tense.

Yin Hongzhi focused his mind and prepared to launch a counterattack with white pieces at the Tiger's Head, and the battle began.

After a few moves, the game became unpredictable again.

"Brother Yin, several old men in Luoyang wrote to me, they want to put Prince Li Ke of Wu on the throne."

"King Li Ke of Wu? What do they intend to do?"

"From what they've said, the King of Wu has been secretly working for the past few years and has at least five or six thousand troops at his disposal."

"Five or six thousand? I'm afraid that won't be enough."

"I think so too, but the private armies of the Yuwen family, the Shan family, and the Yang family combined number in the thousands."

"The Yuwen family? They want to get involved in this mess too?"

"As you know, the Yuwen family always likes to bet on both sides, and perhaps now it's time for them to place their bet again."

"Prince Wu, Li Ke... I've heard that Li Shimin is quite satisfied with the new Crown Prince, Li Tai, and it's likely that he won't change him again unless something unexpected happens. The method of a mutiny in Chang'an... it won't work, it won't work!"

"My suggestion is, should we try to recruit these people to Huang Chao's army?"

Yin Hongzhi paused for a moment, then said, "Let's forget it. My Huang Chao army currently has far more manpower and financial resources than those other groups, and besides, who knows what these other groups are up to now that they've come in?"

Wang Fangde laughed and said, "Brother Yin, you're very confident. You wouldn't have spoken like this before."

Yin Hongzhi laughed and said, "You'er once recited a limerick: 'The bolder the man, the greater the harvest; the timid starve, the bold feast.' I've roughly calculated that Huang Chao's army's current assets generate a net profit of 50,000 strings of cash per month, equivalent to what I earned in the past ten years of hard work. With so much money, people's confidence grows, and their courage increases. What's the problem?"

Wang Fangde's hand trembled, and the black piece fell to the ground.

"Fifty thousand strings of cash a month? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm not lying to you. The current monthly output of copper coins alone is 20,000 strings of cash. Once we acquire the copper mines in Hangzhou and Guanzhong this year, the output will increase. The income from Shao Kang's businesses and the Huinong Bank last month was 23,000 strings of cash. Add to that the income from other businesses in Shanzhai, and reaching 50,000 strings of cash per month shouldn't be too difficult."

"Heavens above! No wonder our lord insists on expanding the army, and why is the Qizhou Bank so quick to provide funds? This is practically robbing the court of its money!"

"Why is the imperial court leaving its copper and silver mines unused? We, Huang Chao's army, are turning waste into treasure!"

"Fifty thousand strings of cash...that's six hundred thousand strings a year! Think of all the grain and provisions that could buy, how many soldiers could that recruit!"

"My lord has already instructed me to build private granaries in various places to secretly stockpile grain. As for those people in Luoyang... let them do their thing, we won't get involved."

……

When Yin Hongzhi and his group's reply arrived, Li You thought about it carefully and realized that it was indeed a waste to have eight hundred people here stealing books.

He then issued an order for Gao Shen to lead four hundred men back to Bozhou, leaving four hundred men behind to continue assisting Chao Yang's work.

While collecting manuscripts these days, I made an unexpected discovery: the "Examples of Jinshi Strategies" compiled by the Cui family of Boling.

If the Confucian classics annotated by famous scholars were the designated textbooks for the imperial examinations, then the "Examples of Successful Candidates in the Imperial Examinations" compiled by prominent families were the most advanced supplementary teaching materials of the time, equivalent to the "Five-Year College Entrance Examination and Three-Year Simulation" of later generations.

"Examples of Jinshi Policies" directly simulates the policy questions of the Jinshi examination and provides excellent answers that conform to the classics, for the sons of aristocratic families to refer to as appropriate.

For those preparing for the imperial examinations, the "Examples of Imperial Examination Strategies" published by the Cui family of Boling was a lifesaver.

Upon receiving the manuscript, Chao Yang burst into tears of excitement.

However, the fact that the manuscripts of the books being copied had been repeatedly stolen had aroused suspicion among many of the copyists.

Li You timely suspended the work of stealing the manuscripts, transferred all the forces in Boling City to the outside of the city, and waited for the copyists' suspicions to subside before sending soldiers to "visit" them.

The seasoned thief Liu San, along with a dozen or so petty thieves he had trained, were subdued by Li You with a large sum of money. Liu San's family members were also taken out of the city. This group of people totaled about fifty.

Although petty thieves and scoundrels are looked down upon, they can play a significant role in specific situations.

It was no easy task to house more than 400 people outside the city while keeping it a secret.

As for how to settle them, Li You first sent people around to inquire whether there were any wealthy families who wanted to sell their estates and lands. As a result, he found out about a few families. Two of them were members of the Cui family, and another was a local wealthy family. They were in urgent need of money and needed to exchange some real estate.

Li You, now wealthy and powerful, bought the three estates at a relatively high price.

The two Cui family members owned manors, one with 1,400 mu of land and the other with 1,000 mu of land; the local wealthy manor owned 800 mu of land.

When the land was handed over, the tenants, slaves, houses, and so on were also handed over, but the oxen and horses were not handed over to Li You. Presumably, in the eyes of these people, the domesticated livestock were more valuable than the farmers in the fields.

Because of this matter, Li You even asked Cao Boyan, a local general under his command.

"My lord, this is the custom here in Dingzhou: oxen are far more valuable than slaves."

"How many slaves can one cow be exchanged for?"

"When I was a child, a calf could be traded for three toddlers, and a cow could be traded for five or six women. I don't know about now."

"Which is more expensive, a horse or an ox?"

"If it's an ordinary foal, the price is the same as an ox. But if it's a warhorse that can be used on the battlefield, it will cost three or four times more."

Li You nodded, "So that's how it is."

He couldn't help but recall some border rumors he had heard in his previous life: that you could exchange five or six sheep for a Russian wife.

The soldiers dispersed into the three farms, while the tenant farmers, who knew they had changed owners, nervously approached Li You to discuss rent collection.

Li You originally intended to divide the land equally among them, but later felt that this might cause unnecessary trouble, so he reduced the rent for these tenant farmers by 60%.

Hearing that their new master was so kind and benevolent, the tenant farmers were overjoyed and thanked Li You profusely.

"Alright, alright, don't make a fuss about it when you get back. Have a good New Year and work hard next year to try for a good harvest."

"Yes, yes, thank you, host! Thank you, host!"

The soldiers remained hidden within the farm, where they were still rigorously trained daily by generals such as Gao Biao, Tao Zhantian, and Cao Boyan. Li You found their approach excellent and entrusted the Huang Chao army soldiers he had brought with them to train as well.

With Dou Jun's help, Chao Yang worked hard to organize the various manuscripts and annotations that had been brought from Boling.

The most important thing is not the original text, but the annotated interpretations of the scriptures. This is the information that poor scholars urgently need.

After lying in wait in the farm for more than ten days, Li You sent more than 400 soldiers into the city to continue "visiting" the book copyists.

This time, Li You told them not to just focus on the copyists who copied Confucian classics, but also to look for writers who copied books in other fields.

The Central Plains civilization is profound and extensive, and it is not only Confucianism that can be used to govern the world and benefit the people.