Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 208 Little Li Feichao

Xu Yanshi was left behind, and was specially used by His Majesty the Emperor to collect fire nitrate, earth nitrate, and various minerals.

As for Zhang Jun, under the amazed eyes of everyone, he was sent to Zhongnan Mountain to practice Taoism by the emperor's imperial edict.

His Majesty the Emperor really didn't want to see this person, so he ordered Zhang Jun to leave immediately. At the same time, His Majesty the Emperor sent someone back to Chang'an to summon Wang Su, a member of the household department.

Wang Su was the magistrate of Wannian County three years ago. When Li Maozhen attacked Wannian, Wang Su acted well, organized the people to help defend the city, and resettled the refugees.

At this time, when the opportunity came, he was sent to Jinghai as a Jiedu envoy.

As for the military officer, Li Ye's favorite is Liu Kun, the former commander of the Three Capitals and Three Schools of the Zuo Shenwei Army. When the You Yulin Army was expanded, he was transferred to the Eight Capitals as the commander. He is currently in the army and can serve as the Jinghai defense envoy.

Wang Su is in power, Liu Kun is in charge of the military...

…………

The situation of the imperial court is getting better and better. After the promulgation of the hereditary decree, all the towns express their gratitude and pay their taxes.

The so-called taxation of feudal towns, according to the Tang system, each town’s officials and soldiers have fixed quotas. After each town collects taxes according to the population per acre, the imperial court takes [-]% of the remaining money, which can be intercepted by the towns. Thirty percent.

But for so many years, how can the imperial court control the land and population inside the feudal towns? Most of the towns have barren fields and withered populations, and most or even all taxes are intercepted.

What can the court do?I can only pinch my nose and recognize it.

"Your Majesty, the towns of Weibo, Lulong, and Chengde all expressed their gratitude and paid last year's summer and autumn taxes."

"How much did you pay?" Li Ye asked.

"Wei Bo handed over [-] guan, dozens of carts of silver, gold, pearls, agate and coral, and Lu Long and Chengde each handed in [-] guan and [-] bolts of silk."

Li Ye raised his eyebrows slightly. The money is not much, but it has great political significance.

"What about the other towns?"

"That's all!"

"Is it the same for Xuanwu Hedong?"

Pei Shudao: "Xuanwu and Hedong all express their gratitude. Xuanwu handed over [-] guan in money and dozens of carts of gold and jade goods, which is the most in all towns. And Dongdong expressed their gratitude and said that they can deduct [-] guan from this year's Zhaoyi Shou Sui Sui Sui. It is handed over as a tax on the east of the river."

Li Ye couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing this.

First, Zhu Wen is tolerant enough, and in this situation, he is still so willing to spend money. Second, Li Keyong really deducted [-] guan, and he still has to deduct from Zhaoyi Sui.

But Duan Kun, the commander of Yushan's personal guard right army, made Li Ye's face immediately covered with frost.

"Your Majesty, according to the Xuanwu investigation report, large-scale famines have occurred in Bianzhou, Songzhou, Bozhou, and Zhengzhou. The people have changed their children and eaten a lot. Zhu Wen sent people to spread rumors, saying that the imperial court forced them to pay taxes..."

Pei Shudao: "Zhu Wen's heart can be punished, and the minister thinks that he can order the towns of Hedong, Weibo, Chengde, Pinglu, Tianping, Taining, Wuning and other towns to attack Xuanwu."

His Majesty the Emperor did not speak.

Du Rangneng didn't speak either.

Imperial scholar Wang Fu said: "Your Majesty, I think it is impossible. Xuanwu has a hundred thousand soldiers, all of whom have survived a hundred battles. If the imperial court sends troops, how many people will it need?
The law of war goes to the strategy of conquest, followed by conquest, followed by conquest of soldiers, and then the siege of the city. Xuanwu is a mere land, how can it support [-] troops, the money and food are insufficient, and the soldiers will be separated for a long time. At that time, I am afraid that Xuanwu will cause chaos. ? "

Li Ye said with a smile: "Xueshi Wang's words are very good, but I need the land of Bozhou, share the benefits of the Bian River with Xuanwu, and communicate with the north-south water transportation. What can you do?"

The Bian River is related to the main artery of the imperial court's water transportation, and it must not be placed under Zhu Wen's control.

Li Ye's idea was to replace Bozhou and Yingzhou with Zhengzhou and Huazhou, and redefine Xuanwu's administrative boundaries. Moreover, Yingzhou is now under the control of the imperial court, so he thought Zhu and Wen would send people to talk.

However, to Li Ye's surprise, Zhu Wen neither came to talk about Yingzhou, nor returned Zhengzhou, Huazhou, and Caozhou and Puzhou to Zhu Xuan of the Tianping Army.

Prime Minister Du Rangneng said: "Your Majesty, I believe that the current situation is favorable to the imperial court. Bozhou has [-] soldiers. The imperial court can send troops to advance to Bozhou, camp in Bianshui, and use cavalry to patrol the river bank. Then Bozhou will become a lone army. Issue an edict to order Xuanwu to evacuate the four prefectures, and I expect Zhu and Wen will definitely follow."

Li Ye nodded, Du Rangneng's meaning was very clear, with military coercion and political power complementing each other, if Xuanwu sent people to talk, the court would have the upper hand.

After all, the cost of turning one's face is very high, the court is playing games, and Xuanwu may not be playing games.

Wang Fu said: "Du Gong, if the Bozhou army and the imperial army attack each other, what will happen?"

Li Ye said: "It's only 1 people!"

……

Without much effort, Zhu Zhen led [-] troops to destroy Wang Tan's army, and then received an order from the emperor to send troops to Zhenyuan County, Bozhou.

Zhenyuan County is in the northeast of Bozhou, close to Bianshui.

His Majesty the Emperor personally led the Sixth Army of Cavalry, and the rest of the Zuo Huwei Army sent troops to Luyi County, Bozhou.

It was reported that the imperial army was coming, and in the city of Bozhou, Li Si'an, the white general, showed no fear.

Tabai is the most elite cavalry unit under Zhu Wen's tent. The whole army has five compartments, each compartment has five battalions, each battalion has five capitals, and each has 100 cavalrymen, totaling 1.

Of course, it is impossible for Zhu Wen to deploy all the elite of more than 1 people in Bozhou. There are only two battalions in one side of Li Si'an, a total of 1000 elite cavalry, and the remaining [-] infantry are local town soldiers in Bozhou. Plus a part of Caizhou's descendants.

Hearing that the imperial army was coming, Shangke, the governor of Bozhou, said: "Jieshuai ordered us to guard the city and not fight with the imperial army. Now that the emperor is leading the army, we should report to Jieshuai for disposal."

Li Si'an said: "Didn't Shang Shijun see that there are imperial scouts all over Bozhou? The envoys who reported the military situation have already set out three batches. According to the time, the envoys from Jieshuai should have arrived yesterday."

Shang Kewen's expression became condensed, and he said: "So, if you can't hold on, the Tang army has blocked the news, and the situation of the Bozhou army will not come out. After a long time, the commander-in-chief will definitely send someone to investigate. Everything that happened here must be known. "

Li Si'an shouted: "The imperial court attacked Xuanwu for no reason. This is unjust. I will ask the emperor why he wanted to arrest my brother Wang Tan!"

Shang Ke was startled, and said: "General, you can't do it! This matter must be handled by Jie Shuai himself!"

Li Si'an looked at Shang Ke and said: "Shang Shijun sent Wang Tan to capture Yingzhou. Now that the soldiers and horses have been destroyed and Wang Tan has been captured, why didn't Shijun save him?"

Shang Ke frowned, is this something he can control?
"I'm only carrying out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. Why did the general turn his anger on me? If the general goes out to fight, what if there is an accident?"

Li Si'an said: "I will bear the responsibility of protecting the environment and the people in Bozhou. Naturally, I will bear all the consequences and will not implicate the envoy."

Shangke smiled wryly, does this mean that if you are not involved, you will not be involved?But Li Si'an, how could he persuade him?

Li Si'an is from Xuanwu and Bianliang, and is the leader of the local faction, while Shang Ke is from the descendant general of Huang Chao. The two belong to different factions, one civil and one military, and this is also Zhu Wen's means of check and balance.

Shang Ke looked at Li Si'an leading a thousand troops from the Baidu headquarters out of the city, he stroked his forehead and sighed.

At this time, Li Ye was in the army.

Wen Zefeng, the commander of both sides of the Zuohuwei Army, was originally a member of the Xuanwu Changzhi Army and knew Li Si'an quite well.

"Li Si'an, who served under Xuanwu General Yang Yanhong in his early years, was brave and powerful, with a height of seven feet. After Yang Yanhong was killed by Zhu Wen, Li Si'an followed him.

He is good at using flying spears, and within a hundred steps, there is no false attack. "

"Li Si'an is extremely brave. When he was fighting against Qin Zongquan, he often led more than a hundred troops. Among Qin Zongquan's hundreds of thousands of troops, he rushed left and right, and no one could stop him. Most of the people in the army admired him!"

Li Ye shook his head, another hero!How come there are so many talents in Xuanwu?If this person can be captured, he may be able to divide the Xuanwu faction in Zhu Wen's camp.

"Your Majesty, this man is brave but lacks resourcefulness. Every time he encounters an enemy, he will attack fiercely. If the attack is not going well, he will flee. A confrontation is not a big victory, but a big defeat."

Li Ye nodded and said, "I want to capture this person alive, what can you do?"

Wen Zefeng said: "Your Majesty, this matter is very easy. Arrange the second chamber in front of the formation to block Li Si'an's attack, and send cavalry to surround him. Are you afraid that you will not be able to capture him?"

(End of this chapter)