The Bad Guys: Playing the Fake Li Xingyun at the Beginning

"What? Brother Li asked Li Siyuan and the empress to go look for the Longquan treasure together?" At the border of Youzhou, Zhang Zifan in the tent sat up from his chair when he heard the news.

"How is this possible? He wasn't interested in the Longquan treasure box before, so why is he going to look for the Longquan treasure now?" Zhang Zifan noticed the subtlety of the news at the first moment and thought of the bad leader Yuan Tiangang.

In the whole world, only Yuan Tiangang could force him to find the Longquan treasure. Just when he was about to pack his luggage and go back to help, he suddenly froze.

Yes, what can he do even if he goes back now? Li Siyuan has been forced to leave Luoyang, so what can he do if he goes?

With Yuan Tiangang around, who dares to cause trouble?

Zhang Zifan walked out of the tent, looked towards the Central Plains, and prayed silently in his heart, Brother Li, I'm afraid I can't help you this time.

Chapter 216: The Black and White Impermanence

The scenes in the Liang army camp in the past are still vivid in his mind. If it weren’t for him, Li Xingyun would not have risked falling into dangerous situations so many times, although those "dangerous situations" seem very ridiculous now.

But Zhang Zifan didn't want to see such a thing happen a second time. Now, he was the contemporary Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Master Mansion and one of the few brothers that Li Xingyun could trust. He couldn't let him down.

The water of Longquan treasure is too deep. If I help him rashly, I will only hinder him and will not be beneficial to the overall situation.

On the contrary, his most important thing was to open up trade here and establish good cooperative relations with the Khitan.

……

At the same time, at the grassland border not far from Youyan.

The green grassland stretched as far as the eye could see, and the river meandered like a jade belt. Not far away, two horses, one black and one white, were galloping side by side, and the people on the horses were also one black and one white.

The two were none other than the long-missing Black and White Impermanence siblings of the Xuanming Sect. Ever since Su Ming reorganized the Xuanming Sect, the siblings were afraid that the emperor would settle old scores, so after many hints and requests, they were sent by Meng Po to the border of the grassland to spy on the news on the grassland.

In Luoyang, the brother and sister were just small minions that could be trampled upon by anyone, but when they came to the grassland, they were completely freed from their restraints.

The two siblings who practiced the Nine Nether Mysterious Heaven Divine Art continued to hunt horse bandits and sand bandits on the grassland to absorb their skills. In just one year, the name of Black and White Impermanence spread like wildfire on the grassland.

The way these two people killed people was too horrific. After the people's internal energy was sucked away, their bodies looked like mummies, which was extremely scary.

For these people who live on the edge of a knife on the grassland, death is not scary, but what is scary is dying in such a strange way. As a result, all kinds of rumors spread on the grassland.

Some people said that the two siblings could steal other people's souls, others said that they were blood-sucking monsters. Their names in this border area could really stop children from crying at night.

"Brother, have you heard? Li Xingyun is sending people to look for the Longquan treasure again." Chang Haoling was lying on the white horse, with a piece of green grass on his pink lips, squinting his eyes, and looking very comfortable.

"Longquan treasure?" A strange color flashed across Hei Wuchang's dark eyes. After a moment of silence, he said, "Let others fight if they want to. The Longquan treasure is not something we two can get involved in."

Two horses, one black and one white, walked side by side, and the sound of their hooves was drowned out by the grass.

Suddenly, Chang Haoxuan laughed, "Prince Qi Li Maozhen and Prince Jin Li Siyuan are leading the search for the Longquan treasure. With such a big show, how many people dare to show up? There are too many hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the Central Plains. I think it's better to be free and easy on this grassland."

Chang Haoling turned over and lay on the horse's back, revealing her slender curves. "Yes, coming to this grassland outside the Great Wall, how many people can be rivals to us brothers and sisters? Although the wind and sand are a bit strong here, we have everything we want, big chunks of meat, big chunks of wine, and no restrictions. This life is really something I wouldn't trade for even if I were given the emperor."

Suddenly, an eagle soared in the sky, making a clear eagle cry. The two men's faces changed at the same time, "Brother, the Xuanming Sect sent a letter. Do you think it is because of the Longquan treasure?"

"Let's go back and take a look. It hasn't come to that point yet. Don't panic. We all know the current situation of Xuanming Sect. With the bad guys here, Meng Po shouldn't need us."

"Let's go."

The next moment, two horses, one black and one white, turned into two shadows and disappeared into the grassland.

……

Yangzhou.

It is a prosperous place. The land of Jiangnan has been peaceful for decades. It is no longer devastated by past wars and is now populated by people.

On the street, a fat, gray-haired middle-aged man was staggering along the road, holding a broken folding fan in one hand and a wine gourd in the other. His eyes were bleary-eyed and his red trough nose was very eye-catching. The pungent smell of alcohol could be smelled from several feet away.

"Have you heard? His Majesty in the Central Plains is sending people to look for the Longquan treasure. There is wealth hidden in there that is rich enough to rival a country. It would be great if that treasure was mine."

"Hey, are you dreaming? Do you know who the emperor sent to find the treasure? King Qi and King Jin, with those two here, I advise you to just go to bed." In the tavern, a merchant from the Central Plains said proudly.

However, just as he finished speaking, a pungent smell of alcohol came towards him, and then he saw a man standing in front of him, "What did you just say? Li Xingyun sent people to find the Longquan treasure?"

The merchant was stunned and immediately shouted, "How dare you address the emperor by his name!"

At this time, the emperor was nothing in the eyes of the military governors, but he still had authority in the eyes of ordinary people.

Li Cunyi was startled, and his eyes cleared up for a moment, "What's going on with the Longquan treasure? Tell me!"

The merchant was stunned and frightened by Li Cunyi. He stammered, "The emperor sent King Qi and King Jin to secretly search for the Longquan treasure and take out the wealth inside. Many people know about it."

As soon as he finished speaking, when he came to his senses, Li Cunyi had disappeared, leaving him sitting at the table, confused for a long time.

In the alley, Li Cunyi paced slowly, the drunkenness in his eyes slowly dissipating, "Strange, isn't he already the emperor, why is he still thinking about the Longquan treasure?"

Suddenly, his eyes fixed, his steps froze, and his expression instantly became serious, "No, it's Yuan Tiangang behind this! If he wanted to take the Longquan treasure, he would have gone to look for it when the empress presented the Longquan treasure box. Why would he look for it at this juncture? It must be Yuan Tiangang who is behind this!"

Thinking of this, he immediately felt an urge to go back to Luoyang to find him.

However, after walking a few steps, he suddenly gave up, with a hint of disappointment on his face. What could he do now if he went back?

Like Zhang Zifan, Li Cunyi also thought that going back would be useless and he would not be able to help him in any way.

In fact, this is the difference between the court and the underworld. The disputes and minor fights in the underworld may seem like brotherhood, but in fact they are too limited and restrict the development of Li Xingyun himself.

When Li Xingyun ascended the throne, his former friends and brothers gradually could not keep up with his pace and could no longer provide him with support. Li Cun Yi realized this, so he chose to withdraw and wander around the world.

Li Cun Yi knew very well who Yuan Tiangang was and how terrifying he was. He was a formidable opponent.

If Yuan Tiangang was behind this, even if he was planning something, he would definitely not harm Li Xingyun. Thinking about this clearly, Li Cunyi's worries gradually faded away. He picked up the gourd and took a big gulp, smacked his lips, hummed a little tune, and disappeared into the street.

This time, the journey is long and we will never see each other again.

The court and the underworld are clearly divided, with an invisible gap separating them.

Chapter 217: Tacit Agreement, Imperial Army Expansion

Some people, as time goes by, are destined to become strangers and go their separate ways.

The road ahead is long, take care of yourself, and these people are destined to never know the true and false Li Xingyun. Those things buried in the dust of history will never be accessible to ordinary people.

Throughout the long history, people may only leave a few words during famine and disaster years, and there will be no extra narration for the rest.

Chengdu Prefecture.

Yuan Tiangang looked at the information presented by Jing Xin Mo and laughed inexplicably under his mask, "Interesting, taking the initiative, this move is exactly what I want, it's really a tacit move."

The information in his hand was that Su Ming openly announced in the court that he had sent people to look for the Longquan treasure. Yuan Tiangang originally wanted to make this matter known to everyone and attract the attention of the world.

Now with the emperor's endorsement, this matter will not seem abrupt, but will only seem natural. In this way, he will not have to worry about keeping the Luoyang court in step with him.

After all, before the Longquan treasure is found, this drama still has to go on, and the real Li Xingyun does not have to appear in the public eye so soon.

If it is exposed too early, this drama will be meaningless. Everyone will know that this incident was starred by Yuan Tiangang alone, and it would be too ugly.

The best way is to go with the flow and quietly arouse public opinion like we are doing now.

If Su Ming wanted to keep his identity secret as much as possible, then Yuan Tiangang wanted to make the matter of the Longquan treasure reasonable and acceptable to the world.

By then, the game of Longquan treasure will be over, and people will only know that it was the emperor who found the Longquan treasure and it was destiny, rather than Yuan Tiangang who lived for three hundred years and controlled it all behind the scenes.

After all, in history books, Yuan Tiangang is already a dead man, a shadow hidden behind history, destined to never see the light of day.

Naturally, this kind of thing cannot be hidden from the eyes of anyone with a discerning eye. But even if they know that it is Yuan Tiangang who is controlling everything behind the scenes, do they dare to say it?

They didn't dare and could only cooperate with Yuan Tiangang to complete this big show.

Those who know the inside story dare not speak, and those who dare to speak do not know the inside story. Everything is just so logical, the credit and destiny all belong to the emperor, and the people have no idea that all this was secretly planned by the Bad Commander.

What a perfect script!

The two people have different goals, but they coincide in some ways.

"Marshal, he is expanding the imperial guards in Luoyang. In a short time, I'm afraid the whole Luoyang will fall into his hands. Marshal, if he does something bad in secret, it will be bad if your plan goes wrong." Jing Xin Mo stood behind him with his head still lowered.

"Hmph, you're just one person and can't make any waves. However, you've thought it through and actually thought of this." After saying that, Yuan Tiangang turned his head slightly and gave Jing Xinmo a meaningful look.

The Mirror Heart Demon lowered his head even more, and said in a flattering tone, "You are too kind, Marshal. I am just playing around with the edges. The plan still depends on you to take the helm."

"However, what you said makes sense. Let the bad guys in Luoyang keep a close eye on the situation and report immediately when there is any news." After saying that, Yuan Tiangang disappeared.

After waiting for a long time and hearing no sound, Jing Xinmo quietly raised his head and found that Yuan Tiangang had left. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his pale cheeks full of fear.

Although he didn't look up just now, Yuan Tiangang's look gave him real pressure. It is said that serving a king is like serving a tiger, but the power he felt by his side was even greater than serving a king.

……

The Imperial Guards Camp.

In the past, this place was deserted. In its heyday, it could accommodate and train tens of thousands of troops. Now, there are only a pitiful 5,000 people.

Now, the time has changed and the Imperial Guards have finally expanded. Although there are only 30,000 people, Su Ming still adheres to the principle of "better to have fewer than enough" and strictly controls the standards for recruiting the Imperial Guards.

It has to be said that since he ascended the throne, the population around Luoyang has been increasing, and it has truly become the number one city in the world.

Merchants from all over the world and refugees from all over the place gathered here in an endless stream. In troubled times, population is a burden but also the most valuable asset.

In later generations, everyone knows the importance of population. As long as people are alive, they can continuously create value because food and clothing have already been solved.

But in ancient times, food issues were always the most troublesome problem for feudal dynasties, so excessive population became a burden.

However, this situation does not exist in Luoyang now. After decades of war, the people's livelihood in Luoyang has been impoverished, and most of the original aristocratic families have been destroyed by Huang Chao and Zhu Wen.

Without them, large tracts of land around Luoyang were ownerless. If it weren't for the chaos and war, these lands would have been occupied by others long ago.

As order in Luoyang stabilized, these ownerless lands were reclaimed again, and refugees continued to pour in to cultivate crops. Even if powerful people wanted to seize the land, they faced a situation where no one was cultivating the land.

During the reign of Li Cunxu, Luoyang prospered but quickly fell into decline, and was even nearly hit by a war. It was not until Su Ming ascended the throne that the situation in the world gradually stabilized.

The imperial examination system in the first year of Hongwu gradually showed its effectiveness, with thousands of successful candidates taking on government duties. They actively accepted refugees and restored land to cultivation.

These measures were widely spread as a topic of conversation among merchants from all over the country. For a time, fleeing refugees continued to pour into Luoyang. With the administrative power keeping up, Luoyang finally regained some of the atmosphere of its former heyday.

A large population brings sufficient manpower, and those who can survive in troubled times are more or less capable.

The imperial guards first recruited soldiers in Luoyang, but only selected more than 10,000 qualified people. Then they went to various counties in Luoyang to recruit soldiers, and the result was that they exceeded the quota by 10,000 people.

In this era, being a soldier is far more secure and promising than being a farmer. In troubled times, swords and guns are the only way out.

The matter of the over-quota was originally instructed by Su Ming. Now that these people have been recruited, do you want me to send them back?

It was impossible. Although the three officials had their objections, they could not go against the emperor's opinion and had to allocate the money and grain against their will.

Five thousand leading thirty-five thousand new recruits, one leading seven, is considered a relatively acceptable ratio, and he did not do anything excessive. You know, he has been investing a lot of money in training these five thousand imperial guards, and he completely trains them as officers.

It takes a thousand days to maintain an army and only a moment to use it. Although he has only maintained them for less than a year, these people can still be used. After all, they were all bought with money.

Throughout the ages, the combat effectiveness of the armies of the Central Plains dynasties was actually not weak, provided that the military pay was in place in full. Didn’t you see that after the weak border troops of the Ming Dynasty defected to the Qing Dynasty, they suddenly became incompetent from their original weaklings.

Once the military pay is in place, I will do anything for you!