The glory of Li Mi's army of 450,000 is no more, and now the strength is only 200,000, less than half of the peak, but everyone knows that the combat power of the Wei army has doubled several times, especially after the reorganization of Yu Wenhua and nearly 40,000 elite soldiers, so that he has an elite division of up to 130,000, and the rest is 70,000, distributed in the hands of the leaders of various hills.

It is thanks to this elite army that Li Mi has the confidence to harden Yang Dong, he is not afraid of Yang Tong in the north, let alone Li Tang, he thinks that the people of the world say that the Wei army is the third force in the world is not correct, and he should be tied for second with Li Yuan.

At night, in the study of the Wei Palace, Li Mi stood in front of a map, staring at the Jingxiang region, and the internal history ordered Bing Yuanzhen to be behind him, persuading him to form an alliance with Li Tang.

"Great King, Yang Dong's existence has seriously threatened the southern princes. Therefore, he thought that our greatest enemy was the Sui Dynasty, not Li Tang. ”

Bing Yuanzhen used a wooden pole to draw a straight line from Xiangyang on the map, to Gaoliang County near the sea, and then to the northeast, and said: "Judging from the current situation, Li Tang can also go south to annihilate Xiao Mo and Lin Shihong, so as to occupy the vast area south of Jingzhou, and after continuing to occupy Lingnan, he can expand to the northeast, so as to fight a decisive battle with Shen Faxing, Li Zitong and others in Jiangnan, and the criss-crossing water network will drag Li Tang, who is not familiar with water warfare, into the quagmire of war." For a long time, Li Tang can live in harmony with my Great Wei. But the Sui Dynasty is different, it unifies the north, there is no war outside, and it can only develop to the south in the future, even if the Sui Dynasty attacks Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, it will also threaten our Great Wei, and it is in the fundamental interests of the Great Wei to join the Tang Dynasty to resist the Sui. ”

Bing Yuanzhen worked so hard to persuade Li Mi, which was naturally the role played by Li Tang's ten thousand taels of gold, and more importantly, what he said was also in line with the interests of the Wei State.

Li Mi did not speak, but the next day he received Li Tang's envoy.

……

Li Tang's envoy was Wen Yanbo, a Chinese scholar, and under the guidance of several guards, he arrived in front of Li Mi's official room.

"King Qiqi, Tang envoy brought!"

"Ask him to come in."

The door opened, Wen Yan Boan walked into the room with his head held high, the room was spacious and bright, filled with a faint sandalwood incense, and in the middle sat wearing a royal robe, wearing a three-beam crown Wei Wang Li Mi, and a minister sitting on the left and right. A couch was placed opposite Li Mi, apparently prepared for him.

Wen Yanbo gathered his thoughts, stepped forward and bowed to Li Mi and said, "The envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Wen Yanbo, see His Royal Highness the King of Wei!" ”

"Wen Shilang is exempt! Have a seat. ”

Li Mi was born in the Guanlong aristocracy, his literary accomplishment is extremely high, his pomp and etiquette are in place, some of the momentum of the formal dynasty, Li Mi feels good, but he regrets that Pengcheng's background is too low, and he does not have the strong history of ancient capitals such as Daxing, Luoyang, Yecheng, etc., and he can't hold up the façade for him.

"Thank you, King Wei!" Wen Yanbo thanked him and took a seat.

Li Mi smiled and introduced, "These two are my Great Wei Shangshu Ling Fang Xuanzao and Neishi Ling Bing Yuanzhen, and they are the important ministers of my Great Wei Dynasty, Wen Shilang must have heard of them. ”

Wen Yanbo knew that after Li Mi defeated Yu Wenhua and accepted, he accepted a group of old Sui courtiers, but people who are famous all over the world such as Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan are just Li Mi used as a façade, and the power of Wei is actually in the hands of his henchmen, just like these two in front of him, they can be called Li Mi's right-hand men, which is also the main reason why Feng Lun fled from Li Mi to Xiangyang.

"The two important ministers have been looking up for a long time."

The three of them saluted separately, and when he saluted Bing Yuanzhen, he quickly exchanged glances, and some things were clearly stated in his eyes.

Fang Xuanzao is like an old monk's half-closed eyes, as if it has nothing to do with him, even if Wen Yanbo sees the courtesy, he is also ignorant and seems to be very arrogant. In fact, it is not that he is arrogant, but that he opposes an alliance with Li Tang.

Fang Xuanzao knew that the Tang Dynasty was using the Wei State and did not want the Wei State to be involved in the rights and wrongs of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but Li Mi and Bing Yuan were really keen on their attitudes, which made him powerless and helpless.

Wen Yanbo was not embarrassed when he touched a cold face, smiled, and then saluted Li Mi and said: "I have already submitted my handwritten letter on the pilgrimage, presumably the king has already read it, I wonder if the king accepts my proposal to form an alliance on the pilgrimage?" ”

Li Mi said: "King Gu did read the letter of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and also considered his suggestion, King Gu agreed with his plan in principle, but there are some details that need to be discussed, I wonder if Wen Shilang can call the shots?" ”

Wen Yanbo bowed and said, "If the Great King does not change much of the conditions proposed by the Emperor of our Dynasty, he can make the decision!" If it's too big, you can only go back and ask for instructions. ”

Li Mi nodded: "It's not big, it's just a small addition." ”

"Please make it clear to the king." Wen Yanbo was a little nervous in his heart, although Li Yuan had told him that Li Mi might add conditions and give him certain permissions, but there were not many concessions.

"The lonely king added two conditions, first, the Tang Dynasty needs to give me 500,000 stone of grain for military needs."

"500,000 stones?" Hearing that the other party asked for 500,000 stone of grain, Wen Yanbo suddenly looked surprised.

"One or two is not less." Li Mi looked at Wen Yanbo coldly.

Wen Yanbo almost didn't laugh out loud.

They knew that after Li Mi's grassroots officials were baptized by Yang Tong's bloodbath, they made every effort to eliminate the assassins, and even verified and registered the household registration of the people under their rule, which made people panic last year, and even had a small-scale rebellion, which also seriously affected his harvest last year, Li Mi's grain as a condition was also expected by Li Tang Junchen, and Li Tang had Jingxiang and Shuzhong Plain, two major grain-producing areas, and last year was another bumper harvest year, with sufficient grain, and 500,000 stone of grain could be completely taken out, even less than half of the one million stone that Li Yuan envisioned.

Li Mi's appetite is so small...... Wen Yanbo, a courtier of Li Tang who was accustomed to being blackmailed, felt quite surprised, and when he saw Li Mi's domineering expression, he was very happy. But of course he couldn't agree in one go, so he secretly adjusted his emotions, deliberately showed embarrassment on his face, groaned a little, and asked, "I don't know what the king's second condition is?" ”

"It's easier!" Li Mi's tone became quite cold, "The Lone King wants Feng Lun's head as a condition for the alliance. ”

Wen Yanbo was taken aback, the first condition was that he was pretending, but he really couldn't accept this condition, how could he agree to it?

Feng Lun was already the internal history of the Li Tang Dynasty, how could he hand over his head to Li Mi? Otherwise, who would dare to take refuge in the Tang Dynasty in the future.

"The king's condition is difficult for some strongmen, please think twice." Wen Yanbo politely rejected Li Mi.

"King Gu originally wanted to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, but it's a pity that it's ......" Li Mi's words were full of regret.

Wen Yanbo arched his hand and said, "King, can you change the conditions?" Think about it from your heart, if I mention this condition, can you accept it? ”

Li Mi thought for a moment, and a sly smile appeared in his eyes: "Since you say so, then the Lone King is not strong, you exchange 200,000 raw silk for Feng Lun." ”

This is Li Mi's real condition, Feng Lun's betrayal is certainly irritating, but Li Mi attaches more importance to practical interests, and the most practical possessions such as food and cloth are much stronger than Feng Lun's head.

Wen Yanbo understood Li Mi's intentions, and after scolding shamelessly in his heart, he said seriously: "Does the king have any other conditions?" ”

"King Gu hopes that we both treat each other with sincerity and work together to deal with Yang Dong who is heading south." Li Mi said

"Just rely on the king's four words of 'treating each other with sincerity', and I agreed to both conditions." Wen Yanbo nodded solemnly, thinking: 'A thief is a thief'......'.

"I hope Li Tang will send the things as soon as possible." Li Mi glanced at Wen Yanbo, and was extremely disdainful: What kind of bullshit messenger is this, he doesn't even understand the truth of asking for a price and paying back the money on the ground. If this kind of person is not used, it will be considered Li Yuan's bad luck.

Li Mi's heart blossomed, his real data was actually only half, but he didn't expect this Wen Yanbo to agree to it all, it seems that Li Yuan attaches great importance to Feng Lun, a dog thief.

The two looked at each other, and they both laughed heartily.

……

After Wen Yanbo left, Bing Yuanzhen also retreated.

Only Fang Xuanzao and Li Mi were left in the room, Fang Xuanzao opposed the alliance with the Tang Dynasty out of public intentions, thinking that the alliance with the Tang Dynasty was a strategic mistake, he said: "The king knows what my Great Wei lacks compared with the Sui and Tang Dynasties? ”

"For the major forces in the world now, the most precious thing is not money and food, but population."

"Although it is said that the Central Plains has the world, it means that the Central Plains is densely populated, with sufficient military resources and food, but now this is not the case, after so many years of banditry, disasters and wars, the population of the Central Plains has been six or seven! In fact, a large part of the vast land we occupy is Xuzhou, where the land is fertile and has been a major grain producer throughout the ages, but because of the lack of population, many fertile fields are barren. Therefore, what we lack most now is population. Li Mi sighed, why did he propose 500,000 stone of grain as a condition, it was because the military rations were seriously insufficient.

Although the territory he occupies is not small, the population under his rule cannot support the 400,000 army, so he can only cut half of the troops and let those people go to Tuntian, but it can't solve the urgent need, without the population, there will be no food taxes and high-quality soldiers, if his 200,000 elite army is defeated, he will fall into the dilemma of having no soldiers available.

"The king is right, Li Tang has the depth of Bashu, which has not been war-torn and has a large population, and now occupies the north of the rich Jingxiang, so he can be defeated again and again."

"Needless to say, the Sui Dynasty that unified the north, when Yang Tong went north to Jizhou, all forces regarded the displaced people as a source of unstable turmoil, and they were all afraid of them like tigers, but Yang Tong did the opposite, he sheltered more than 10 million displaced people in the Central Plains to supplement Jizhou and Youzhou, and even invested countless money and grain to support. At first, everyone laughed at him for his kindness as a woman, and he was a fool who couldn't achieve great things, but when the population stabilized, they not only thanked him for Dade, but also provided him with an astonishing source of taxes and soldiers. In the subsequent foreign wars, he grabbed a large number of people from Goguryeo and the Turks to replenish the northern regions. So when others were forcibly recruiting young and strong people into the army, he raised the threshold for joining the army, and the conditions were ridiculously high, and at the same time he was disarming. ”

"And we lack a stable and densely populated place like Bashu or the north now, so our strength is always not comparable to that of the Sui and Tang Dynasties."

Fang Xuanzao saw it quite thoroughly, and said Li Mi's biggest weakness.

"Alas!" Li Mi let out a long sigh and said with a wry smile: "They all have strategic depths with large populations and local stability, where are ours?" ”

"Gangnam!"

"Jiangnan?" Li Mi suddenly became interested.

"Exactly!" Fang Xuanzao nodded, since he said what Li Mi's problem was, he naturally thought of a countermeasure: "Although there are also Shen Faxing, Li Zitong and others in Jiangnan who are raising troops to make trouble, it is much better than the people in the north who are not living and Chiye Qianli. In addition, the natural advantages of fertile land, abundant water sources, and biannual harvests in the south of the Yangtze River have continuously attracted people from the north to flee south, making the south a rich land with a large population. Weichen believes that we can develop to the south of the Yangtze River, and then take Jiangdu as the capital, take the land of Wuyue as the hinterland, control Jianghuai in the north, and reach Wuyue and Fujian in the south, which is enough to divide the world with the Sui and Tang dynasties, and reproduce the three-legged trend of Wei, Shu and Wu. ”

Fang Xuanzao's words made Li Mi's heart flutter, at the beginning of the troubled times, the north was greatly damaged, and a large number of people fled south.

Although there were also Li Zitong, Du Fuwei and other people rebelled in the later period, but they learned the lessons of many failures in the north, and they no longer plundered and killed, and paid more attention to people's livelihood.

Li Mi's most exciting thing is the tall and wide city, the populous Jiangdu City, which is a large capital city comparable to Daxing, Luoyang, and Yecheng, if he can get the Jiangdu, then he can also ascend the throne and be the emperor, he asked urgently: "What else?" ”

Fang Xuanzao saw that Li Mi's heart was moved, and he immediately said excitedly: "King, now that the population advantage of the Central Plains is gone, even if we seize the entire territory of the Central Plains, it will be the same as now, there is no fertile land and no one cultivates it, and the empty land is not only unprofitable, but will become a burden to us." Since the Central Plains is worthless, and it is useless to gain it. Why do we have to work for Li Yuan? Why not take advantage of the dispute between the Sui and Tang dynasties to lay a stable foundation? ”

"If the Wei and Tang coalition forces defeat the Sui Dynasty, the result is at most a crushing victory, gradually moving the Sui Dynasty north of the Yellow River, and then Li Yuan has the Bashu population to replenish the army, where will our army come from? Without the army, we will not be annihilated by the Sui Dynasty, but I am afraid that we will also be annexed by Li Tang. If the Wei and Tang coalition forces were defeated by the Sui Dynasty, then everyone would naturally be overwhelmed. ”

"This incident makes me think about it, think about it again!" Li Mi was quite excited.

"Wechen retired." Fang Xuanzao didn't want Li Mi to overturn the alliance with Li Tang, he only hoped that Li Mi would think about the core interests of Wei and not devote himself to Li Tang.