As Li Ze raised the tassel in his hand high, the sound of sonic cheers sounded above the vast field, and countless people, whether they were ordinary people or high-ranking officials and nobles, happily waved the sickle in their hands and harvested.

Yun Zhao watched all this with satisfaction, the harvest season always makes people happy.

In Wuyi, in fact, there are fewer and fewer people eating corn. Because wheat has been vigorously promoted, wheat with higher yield per mu and better taste is gradually replacing millet as the staple food in the north. But outside of Li Ze's core area, corn is still a staple food. Because it's cheaper than wheat noodles.

Li Ze has been clothed and fed since he was a child, of course, he has never done anything in farm work, and today he came to show the meaning of having fun with the people. However, his three-year-old son Li Tang excitedly walked on two little short legs, running around the field, from time to time picking up some tassels that had fallen on the ground, saving a handful, and then running to Li Ze happily, lifting it up like a treasure.

"Not bad, not bad." Li Ze squatted down, took the corn from Li Tang's hand, and put it at his feet, "If you can still pick up some of them, then my father will have someone make a bowl of corn from what you picked up, and you can eat it alone, how about it?" ”

"Father, I want you to do it yourself." Li Tang's milk voice was milky.

Li Ze laughed: "Of course you can." But you have to memorize a poem for me to listen to, do you remember the one I taught you the other day? ”

"Of course I do!" Li Tang raised his head, "At noon on hoeing day, sweat drops fall into the soil." Who knows that Chinese food is hard work! ”

"Carry it well, go pick up the tassels, son, have a good experience, what is called hard work!" Li Ze pointed to the field in front of him.

Li Tang walked on two small short legs and ran happily back into the field.

"After harvesting this season's millet, we are about to rush to sow winter wheat, and in these two months, some of them are busy." Gongsun Changming only wore a short coat, and his two arms like dry wood were even more conspicuous. Holding a sickle in one hand and a handful of millet in the other, he walked up to Li Ze.

He is different from Zhang Hui, he is completely a guy who doesn't like to work.

At this moment, Zhang Hui is leading the students of Wuwei Academy to sweat like rain in the fields.

"I hope God will give you face and give everyone a good weather." Li Ze looked at the sky and said with a smile.

"In Pinglu, God is very faceless!" Gongsun Changming said with a smile: "The plan formulated by Qin Zhao to recover Pinglu was forcibly delayed for more than a month because of this heavy rain. ”

Li Ze shook his head, "People are not as good as heaven, how can everything be as expected?" It's just that the time is a little longer, and it won't have much impact on the ending. ”

"The trouble is still very big, at least in terms of the supply of grain and grass, so that Dizhou, Cangzhou and other places are busy, all the stocks are freed up, and tens of thousands of people are mobilized to the front line to urgently transport grain, and this inevitably affects the current autumn harvest and the sowing of winter wheat immediately." Gongsun Changming shook his head and said, "Take one and start the whole body!" ”

The two walked to the ridge and simply sat directly on the ridge, "It's cheaper for Zhu Youzhen, because this heavy rain has really made him get more benefits." Gongsun Changming flattened his mouth: "He evacuated nearly 20,000 households from Pinglu, nearly 100,000 people, and most of these people are young and strong. He left, robbed Pinglu of all the light, and left a mess for us. The original plan was that he would empty Qingzhou at most, and now he has made a lot of money. ”

"It's not necessarily a bad thing to make him stronger, if he is too watery, how can he go to the south next?" Li Ze said disapprerovitically. "We are still counting on him to go to the south, where will he stir up the smoke!"

"There's one thing I haven't figured out, and that's where does Jing Xiang come from?" Gongsun Changming said a little incomprehensibly: "If I didn't know that Jing Xiang is really a person who plans and then acts, I really think he is faint." No matter how you look at it now, the boss of the Zhu family has a greater chance. And Zhu Wen, his health is also quite good! ”

"For what we can't grasp, then wait and see what gets better." Li Ze said: "No matter what, if there is a dispute between the Zhu brothers, it will be an excellent thing for us. ”

Gongsun Changming nodded, suddenly remembered something, and said, "Lord Wang, there is one thing, I have to remind you, there is something strange here. ”

"What's the matter?" Li Zedao.

"Qin Zhao's Zuo Xiaowei." Gongsun Changming said.

Li Ze raised his eyebrows: "What's wrong with Zuo Xiaowei?" Could it be that he can still rebel? ”

"That's not it, and this time Zuo Xiaowei's casualties are a bit unexpected." Gongsun Changming shook his head and said: "If I say that there are large casualties on the breakthrough of the Yellow River defense line, I can still understand it, but when I hit Linzi and other places, why are the casualties so large?" ”

"Is there such a thing?"

"More importantly, the people who suffered the most casualties were Jin Shiyuan's subordinates." Gongsun Changming said: "Li Hao's department, Cheng Xu's department, after breaking the Yellow River defense line, were adjusted by Qin Zhao into the second-line troops, the main attack on Linzi is Jin Shiyuan and Qin Zhao's direct troops, as of yesterday, its casualties have exceeded 5,000, and Linzi has not been defeated." What's even more strange is that now Linzi is not Liu Xinda in command, there is conclusive news that Liu Xinda has left Linzi. The person in charge of the command is Liu Santong, do you think Liu Santong has such a ability? Do you think Linzi still has such combat effectiveness now? ”

"Do you think this is Qin Zhao's intention?" Li Ze frowned: "Among these casualties, there is a lot of moisture? So where did all these people who were falsely reported by them go? ”

Gongsun Changming looked at Li Ze, but did not make a sound.

With the sound of horses' hooves, Li Dang galloped from a distance, and when he got closer, he turned over and dismounted, strode over, bowed and said: "Lord Wang, Gao Xiangsheng accompanied the Lingnan Jiedu envoy to wait for Xiang Zhen, and he has already disembarked from the Moon Bay Pier and is heading towards the inner city. ”

Li Ze stood up with a smile and said, "It's a little interesting." Can you still come up with this trick? Sent an order to Pan Motang to strengthen patrols and inspections on the sea in the near future, I would like to see if these people can put on wings and fly into the sky? ”

Gongsun Changming said: "I think it should be the same." ”

"What a whimsical idea!" Li Ze sneered, "Li Kang, go and ask Mr. Zhang to come back, since it is Lingnan Xiangjiedu's people who are here, let's go and meet together." ”

Xiang Zhen, the Lingnan Jiedu envoy is Yu Hou, and he is also the eldest son of the festival marshal Xiang Xun, and he is the biological father of the queen chosen by the little emperor Li Ke planned by Xue Ping and Han Qi. In any way, he is an out-and-out big man.

Lingnan Jiedu is undoubtedly the richest Jiedu embassy in the Tang Dynasty, firstly, because Lingnan Jiedu is located in the southeast and is rarely affected by the war, and secondly, Guangzhou and other large foreign ports are constantly creating wealth for Xiang's family. Compared with other festivals, Lingnan festivals are indeed rich and strong. Its influence is not limited to Lingnan Jiedu, but has a huge influence on the southeast.

Such a powerful Jiedu Embassy, under the current situation, ambition naturally breeds. However, unlike Zhu Wen's ambition to replace Tang, Xiang Xun did not have this idea. On the contrary, Zhu Wen abolished Tang Zili, and he was extremely angry.

The reason for the anger is simple.

What Lao Tzu didn't dare to do, you Zhu Wen actually dared to do.

Then, pulling Zhu Wen off the horse and stepping on it again became a little thought of Xiang Xun.

Of course, on this basis, it would be better if you could dominate the world.

But the difficult thing is that although the Xiang clan is rich and strong, the geographical conditions in a corner of the country greatly limit his thoughts, and he wants to start the northern expedition from the south, and some other Jiedu envoys who stand in his way do not think so.

Seeing that Li Ze was coercing the Son of Heaven in the north to order the princes, mixing up and becoming more and more powerful, Xiang Xun's heart jumped even more lively, but he couldn't get in.

At this time, Gao Xiangsheng's visit opened another door for him.

Gao Xiang was promoted to the rank of little emperor and asked to marry his granddaughter as empress.

If this matter can be done, even if he Xiang Shi will become the emperor's noble relative of the Tang Dynasty, and raise troops to serve the king, it is a legitimate thing for him, and the emperor will issue an order to let him raise troops for the Northern Expedition, and he will send troops again, which will be justified. Along the way, those half-hearted candidates had to think carefully about the consequences of stopping themselves.

Of course, there is one of the biggest obstacles to this matter, and that is Li Ze.

Obviously, Gao Xiangsheng's secret visit to mention this matter, not Li Ze's sending someone, shows that this matter was not at Li Ze's behest.

This matter was of great benefit to Xiang Xun, and after a secret discussion with Gao Xiangsheng, Xiang Xun sent his son Xiang Zhen to Wuyi, and Xiang himself proposed to the emperor.

Of course, what Xiang Zhen brought was also the political alliance of the Xiang clan's submission to the Zhenzhou court and the forerunner of the imperial court.

The north and south flanked and attacked Zhu Wen together.

I believe that Li Ze has no way to refuse, and it is impossible to refuse.

On a political level, it's a win-win. Lingnan Xiangxun can justifiably integrate the forces in the southeast direction and form a joint force to threaten Zhu Wen. As for Li Ze, it is to find a powerful ally in the south.

Of course, there is another force that profits, that is, the little emperor Li Ke, who went from a vain emperor who had nothing to a strong external force that could respond to him.

Li Ze, will you agree?