Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 133 Cannibalism
The auspicious king Li Bao in front of him is as gentle as jade, with decent speech and graceful demeanor.

Li Ye was impressed by being able to say what he just said.

From this point of view, it is not surprising that the ministers want to make him the successor.

Historically, after Yang Fugong was eradicated, Emperor Zhaozong Li Ye of the Tang Dynasty at that time rarely ordered all the kings in the clan to Dianbing. At that time, there were more than 3 forbidden troops, more than 4000 horses, and they were distributed to the eight kings.

At that time, King Han, the youngest of Dianbing, was only 13 years old, while Li Bao, the king of Ji, who was in the prime of his 30s, had nothing to do.

However, in the records of King Ji in the history books, there are only a few pens supported by civil servants, nothing else. It can be seen that the successor Tang Zhaozong was quite afraid of King Ji. After he became emperor, he directly refrigerated Li Bao.

But Li Ye didn't want to do that. As King Ji, it was very appropriate to do that.

"Does King Ji want to share my worries?"

Li Bao said: "I would like to do my best for His Majesty, lest my lack of intelligence will delay your Majesty's important affairs."

Li Ye said: "I want to give you a grain transshipment envoy, what does King Ji think?"

Datang did not have the post of grain transshipment envoy, but there was a salt and iron transshipment envoy, which operated the national salt and iron monopoly, and this grain transshipment envoy naturally meant grain monopoly.

"This……"

As for the matter of food, Li Bao naturally knew how deep the water was. If he took over the task, the rest of the noble families in Chang'an would basically be offended, so he was very hesitant.

Li Ye didn't force it, and said, "Since King Ji has no intention, let's let this matter go."

Seeing Li Ye turn around, Li Bao's blood surged, he knew that if he rejected the emperor's younger brother this time, there would be no next time.

He hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I am willing!"

Li Ye turned around and said with a smile, "Really!"

"really!"

"Okay!" Li Ye turned his head to look at Li You and said, "Is there anything else you need, brother?"

"Your Majesty, the minister's food...?"

"Let this matter be handled by King Ji. The court can redeem the grain purchased by merchants at the original price. From now on, except for the government, the government can buy and sell grain, and the rest will not be allowed. Anyone who violates the law...will be killed."

"promise!"

Li Yoo: "..."

How precious is the food in wartime, a sesame seed cake can be exchanged for a big girl with yellow flowers, for those who stutter, gold, silver and jewelry are not considered things, money is even more money.

Selling grain can only be done by the imperial court, leaving enough reserves in Guanzhong, and the rest of the grain can be transported to Luzhou. First, after visiting Weizhou, entering Huazhou is the territory of Zhu Wen, where grain can be sold at a high price. It is to recruit the hungry people in the Central Plains to fill Guanzhong.

Li Ye was always thinking about grabbing Zhu Wen's wool.

The famine in the Central Plains had little effect on Zhu Wen's military strength. The army had no food to eat and could eat human flesh, but it affected Zhu Wen's war potential.

It can also be done by recruiting the hungry people in the Central Plains.

The matter was settled like this, Li Ye found Zhang Chengye, Zhang Chengye was also in charge of judging and supporting, that is, the general manager of military supplies and logistics.

The grain and grass in Guanzhong has begun to be transported to Hanzhong. According to the fact that a soldier consumes one stone (150 catties) a month and a horse two stones a month, the army entering Shu consumes 30 stones of grain in one month and [-] stones in three months.

Now, Li Ye no longer valued this amount of food.

Just eating food is not enough. During the war, each person had to supply five catties of dried meat and five catties of wine a month.

Each person also needs five copies of Jinchuang medicine. Archers need to prepare three bowstrings, 50 arrows, one field tent, one water bag, five feet of plain cloth, three pairs of shoes, pantyhose, belts, etc.

Every 1 people also need [-] mowing knives, sickles, etc.

As for the armor, the Zuohuwei Army, the Zuo Shenwei Army's armor rate reached [-]%, and the armor rate of the Sixth Cavalry Army reached [-]%. Putting it anywhere in the Tang Dynasty, this equipment can be considered arrogant.

"Chengye, how is the food and grass preparation going?"

"There are already [-] stones of grain and grass, which have already been shipped to Yang County in Hanzhong, and [-] catties of dried meat have also been made, which can be transported with the army. However, it has been rainy recently, and the minister has ordered [-] live sheep to be driven to Hanzhong. The rest of the armor and equipment are basically It's ready."

"There are also winter clothes, and we have to prepare them now."

Zhang Chengye nodded. There is no fixed number of things like war. It is better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.

"Your Majesty, Duke Wei, the envoy of the Zhaoyi Festival, reported that Luzhou has abundant grain this year. Apart from the town's expenses, it can also support the imperial court's 100 million shi of grain. The grains of Xing, Ming, and Ci prefectures are only enough for the prefecture's expenses."

Li Ye waved his hand and said, "No, I think the imperial court can send 200 million shi of grain to Luzhou, sell it to Xuanwu, and recruit refugees from the Central Plains. You should draft an edict on my behalf and let Wei Zhaodu supervise it."

"promise!"

……

Yanying Hall of Daming Palace
Li Ye called all the prime ministers to discuss the matter.

This time His Majesty the Emperor personally conquered the land of Shu, it may take several months, and the emperor is not around, so the court cannot idle, and someone needs to be responsible.

Li Ye looked around for a week, the Minister of Rites, Kong Wei, the servant of the door, Zhang Jun, the servant of the Zhongshu, Sun Kui, the servant of the household department, Du Rangneng, the left servant of the Shangshu, Niu Hui, the servant of the official department, Zhang Chengye, the right servant of the Shangshu, and Zhang Chengye of the Ministry of War. The servant Liu Chongwang.

There is also the general Zuo Jinwuwei and the governor Sun Weizui.

There are not many prime ministers who understand military affairs, only Zhang Chengye, Du Rangneng, and Liu Chongwang have contacted, but it is still not enough to lead troops to fight.

Sun Kui and Zhang Jun are garbage leading soldiers, not to mention Kong Wei.

Although Niu Hui didn't lead soldiers, his mind was still clear.

According to the original history, Zhang Jun and Kong Wei encouraged the then Emperor Zhaozong to use troops against Li Keyong in Hedong. At that time, Niu Hui directly scolded Zhang Jun and others for harming the country.

All the prime ministers looked at Sun Weizui, and then at His Majesty the Emperor. They were all puzzled. Today, the prime ministers were discussing matters. Why did they bring in an outsider? Is there something to do with General Sun?One must know that Sun Wei has been out of work for a long time, and the most recent time, Li Ye pulled him out to fight against Tuoba Sigong.

And Sun Wei is also at a loss.

Li Ye said: "I entrusted Zuo Jinwuwei to the general, and the governor Sun Wei was the most in charge of the three divisions of the government, and added Zhongshu to make things easier."

"This……"

Grant the post of prime minister to a warrior?
Kong Wei looked at the emperor in disbelief.

The Great Tang granted the local Jiedu envoy Kaifuyi and the third division Jiazhongshu to make peace with many things, such as Li Keyong and the dead Li Maozhen.

But none of the Jiedu envoys were foolish and went to the court to be the prime minister.

In the final analysis, enfeoffing a martial artist is a matter of peace, that is, sealing it for fun. The imperial court has something to ask for, so it is natural to make people look good and feel comfortable.

And this time the title of Sun Wei is the most, obviously it is for real.

Li Ye's idea is very simple, if there is a military matter, naturally one of the prime ministers must understand the military.

"His Majesty……"

As soon as Kong Wei spoke, Li Ye knew what he was going to say.

The other prime ministers were still scruples about the friendship between colleagues, but Kong Wei had already trained himself to be an iron cloth shirt that was invulnerable to fire and water, and he had something to say.

Li Ye also needed such a person to give him some advice, although he rarely accepted Kong Wei's advice.

"Kong Gong, listen to me!"

Li Ye stopped Kong Wei, and continued: "This time I entered Shu, the shortest one or two months, as long as four or five months. After I leave Beijing, the prime ministers will assist the government, and the Zhu batch will be changed to the blue batch. Among the prime ministers Headed by Du Rangneng."

Li Ye trusted Zhang Chengye the most. The reason why Zhang Chengye was not selected as the first assistant was because Zhang Chengye entered the official position as an eunuch, and the time he had been in the butcher was too short and he had no foundation. .

But Du Rangneng was different, the court still had a lot of prestige, and although there were some gaps in the details of the Zhaoyi matter, Li Ye was satisfied on the whole and knew how to take care of the overall situation.

Li Ye also said: "The imperial edict needs to be signed by five prime ministers, and it must be approved by Duke Du before it can take effect. If there is a military incident, the prime ministers should give more consideration to Duke Sun's opinion."

This also sets the tone.

After Li Ye finished speaking, he said to Kong Wei, "Mr. Kong, what's the matter?"

Kong Wei thought for a while, and listened to His Majesty's intention, that is, multiple people asked for opinions, and he did not give the magistrate the power, so he understood, and said: "I have nothing to do, but it's not right for Your Majesty to go thousands of miles here, is it okay?" Sending a general to Shu, why should His Majesty go there in person?"

Li Ye shook his head, he had to go this time, the imperial court had always had a strong control over Sichuan, Shu and Hanzhong, most of the state governors and county magistrates were appointed by the imperial court, and the emperor went in person, the meaning was quite different.

And if you send generals to Shu, there will be many twists and turns, and the Shu people may not be convinced.

"I have made up my mind to send troops in half a month."

Du Rang Neng insisted not to go forward, and said: "Your Majesty, if there are bandits on the border, how should we deal with them?"

Li Ye said: "Duke Sun should be the main general, and all the prime ministers will write to the Governor's Mansion to dispatch troops."

Du Rangneng nodded. As the chief assistant, sensitive matters should be made clear. Since Sun Wei is the governor of the five armies, and the emperor's decree for the deployment of troops in the governor's office of the five armies is now the prime minister's decree, and Sun Wei is the most important. Now promoted to prime minister.

If you don't explain it clearly, wouldn't it be that Sun Wei had the right to deploy troops at the end, which was too powerful. Besides, Sun Wei had a son, Sun Dezhao, who served as the governor of the left army in the governor's office of the five armies.

It can be said that the governor's office of the five armies is controlled by the Sun family, which will shake the foundation of the imperial court.

Of course, Li Ye would not let such a thing happen. The military power must eliminate the possibility of self-respect in the system, and of course there must be room for it.

Li Ye looked at Niu Hui and said, "How about the agency of officials entering Shu?"

"Your Majesty, it has already been drawn up. Yu Shitai has also checked the proposed personnel, and found no violation of laws and regulations."

"Report the resumes of the officials to me. In the past few days, the princes have also discussed together."

"Mr. Zhang, Mr. Sun, how is the division of administrative regions in Sichuan, Shu and Hanzhong?"

Zhang Chengye stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the map is being drawn now. The four prefectures to be built in Sichuan, Shu and Hanzhong have been roughly divided."

Time is too short, it is not easy to achieve this step, Li Ye did not push too much, and even if there is a slight mistake in the administrative division, it will not cause a catastrophe, and some adjustments can be made in the actual division.

There are no other important matters. In terms of war, the Hexi Yang Shihou who Li Ye is concerned about should have gone to Shazhou. Du Chongwei in Yinzhou and Suizhou, whether there will be a border dispute in Hedong, as for Wang Chongying in Hezhong, Li Ye is not very sure. Worry.

Tongguan has an army of [-].

(End of this chapter)