"Knock knock......" The golden drums sounded in unison, and the scholars who were waiting to be summoned came to the main hall of the palace under the guidance of the salute officer.

"Say goodbye to ......"

"Xing ......"

"Say goodbye to ......"

"Xing ......"

In the singing and harmony of the salute officials, a hundred famous scholars bowed three times and bowed nine times in front of the temple gate.

"The ministers knock on the emperor, the emperor is blessed!"

"That's it." Li Zhongyi, who had already changed into court clothes, sat high and enjoyed the scholars' visit with peace of mind.

Suddenly, Li Zhongyi found that there was someone in the queue of scholars outside the hall who had made a mistake, and he couldn't help but smile slightly.

In the court of the Qiang Han Dynasty, the generals visited Li Zhongyi and generally performed a military salute of beating their chests. The ministers were a bit stubborn, and under normal circumstances, they all gave the chief a big gift to the ground.

As for Wu Yueguo's side, Li Zhongyi had the intention to deter the scholars who had just passed the exam, and deliberately arranged a big gift of three bows and nine bows.

Kneeling, sooner or later, will be abolished completely, but not now. After all, a few days after Li Zhongyi conquered Wu Yueguo, the people had not yet returned to their hearts, and the feudal towns in several states were still ready to move.

More importantly, after the army marched westward, Liao Shanhe only had 30,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, of which 20,000 were auxiliary soldiers, and the responsibility was extremely heavy.

Based on this, Li Zhongyi resolutely adopted the strategy of public examinations, that is, the strategy of differentiation and disintegration.

The purpose of the public examination is to fully mobilize the officials and petty officials who were originally not favored or reused in Wu Yue's country, so that their fundamental interests are roughly similar to those of Li Zhongyi.

Once these selected scholars have tasted the sweetness of holding real power, it will be difficult to give up!

Li Zhongyi used a yang conspiracy, not a conspiracy, that is, the willing person took the bait. The people on the list are all here today, and none of them are bad, which shows that Li Zhongyi's yang plan has completely worked.

The palace was only a salt merchant's mansion before, and the so-called palace was actually far less magnificent than the imperial palace in Kaifeng.

Therefore, today's re-examination can only be arranged in the back garden.

Li Zhongyi saw that the scholars had finished their salutes, so he said gently: "You have worked hard, so you are exempt from today's vulgar etiquette." ”

After some pacification, the scholars followed the salute to the back garden, where a book table and pen, ink, paper and inkstone were already arranged.

Participating in the re-examination in the midst of the singing of birds and flowers, the scholars who passed the primary selection were all experienced for the first time, which was particularly surprising.

The test questions of the re-examination have been publicly hung in various places in the back garden, and Zhang Bennian took a closer look and couldn't help but gasp.

The question of the re-examination is: The weight of water trade is heavier than Mount Tai!

What is the title?

The scholars who had prepared a belly of four books and five classics widened their eyes one by one and looked at the exam questions stupidly.

After Huang Guangqun saw the question clearly, he was silent on the surface, but there was a burst of ecstasy in his heart.

Huang Guangqun, who is the director of the Hangzhou government, still has an unknown identity, that is, the owner of a smuggling ship, that is, he is engaged in smuggling in private.

There is a shortage of grain in the north, iron in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and salt in Wuyue.

The core of water trade is the boat, especially the large ship with many sails and masts, and only the large ship can evade the pursuit of the official army and sailors at sea.

Since Li Zhongyi's topics are all about water trade, Huang Guangqun has nothing to be polite about, and explains what he has seen and heard one by one.

Before Zhang became the governor of Hangzhou this year, he worked as the chief bookkeeper of the city department for a period of time, and he knew everything about overseas trade taxes.

Due to the special bias of the topic, Li Zhongyi has reason to believe that even if the scholars who refer to it want to copy the things in the books, they cannot copy them.

Therefore, the invigilators that Li Zhongyi privately arranged at the scene were actually a group of maids serving tea and water.

The exam in the back garden is a question of water trade, and there is no invigilator on the surface, so today's re-examination is indeed an ingenious assessment.

Not to mention the answers that the candidates racked their brains for, Li Zhongyi summoned Liao Shanhe, Li Haodong and other senior military generals in the inner study.

"Ladies and gentlemen, after Ma Yaoming quells the rebellion in Muzhou, the entire army will continue to march westward and join forces with Yang Lie's troops to attack the enemy of the Southern Tang Dynasty......" Yang Wushuang, who knew the secretary of the General Staff, explained the deployment of the entire war one by one according to the battle plan.

"Your Majesty, the last general is not worried about the enemies of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but is a little worried that the land of the thirteen states is unstable and will cause a big mess." Li Haodong spoke first, and this was the first time in the world.

In the past, when it was Li Haodong's turn to speak, most of the meetings were at the end. This time, Li Haodong took the initiative to stand up and speak in front of everyone, which already shows the seriousness of the problem.

Li Zhongyi nodded, turned his head to look at Liao Shanhe, the chief general stationed in Hangzhou, about Li Haodong's question, Liao Shanhe really needs to answer.

Liao Shanhe stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, the subordinates think that the strength of our army is less, and it can only control the chaos in Hangzhou City." If there is chaos in other states and counties, as long as they don't come to Hangzhou to find death, they can ignore it for the time being. ”

Li Haodong couldn't help but question Liao Shanhe: "Liao Du, according to what you said, all the prefectures and counties except Hangzhou have given up?" ”

Liao Shanhe said lightly: "The taxes in Hangzhou alone account for more than fifty percent of the entire Wuyue region, and there are mountains of grain hoarded in the city. ”

Yang Wushuang couldn't listen to it anymore, so he stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Wuyue region is a place of ointment, if the rebellious army is defeated, it will be a pity." Why don't you leave 20,000 soldiers and 30,000 auxiliaries? ”

Li Zhongyi didn't squeak, just stared at Li Haodong intently, and Li Haodong understood that all matters related to intelligence were under his jurisdiction, and he had to have a clear opinion.

"Your Majesty, as far as our military law department knows, after the defeat of Wu Yueqian's family, the situation in Mingzhou, Xiuzhou, Dongfu and other places close to Hangzhou is still relatively stable. The main ones in doubt are Taizhou, Chuzhou, Wenzhou and Fuzhou, which are far away. Li Haodong paused slightly, leaving time for everyone to digest and absorb, and then explained, "As long as the counterinsurgency army of Ma Du can quickly pacify the rebel army in Muzhou, the feudal towns in various places will not dare to act rashly if they have learned a lesson." ”

Li Zhongyi nodded slightly with a smile, and after learning that there was a change in Muzhou, he immediately sent Ma Guangda to lead the army and quickly went to suppress it.

The purpose is to extinguish the forces of resistance and deter the careerists in the thirteen states with lightning speed.

According to the battle report received today, Ma Guangda has arrived at the Tiger Valley, which is 30 miles away from Muzhou City, and as long as he is not ambushed, he is expected to be able to attack Muzhou City tonight.

After the news of Ma Guangda's quick victory came back, as Li Haodong said, the situation near Hangzhou, even if there was chaos, would not be chaotic.

As for Taizhou, Wenzhou, Chuzhou and Fuzhou, after all, the distance is relatively long, and Liao Shanhe's view is also very reasonable.

If there is really chaos in these four states, let it be chaotic for a while. After the main army destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, it turned around and killed it back, and it didn't take much energy to extinguish it in one fell swoop.

Objectively speaking, Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Fuzhou, which are close to the sea, no matter how chaotic they are, the harm is limited.

With the strong strength of the Li Family's naval division, as long as you free up your hands and go south along the coastline, with the help of 12-pounder guns, it doesn't take much effort to completely pacify the land of these four states.

"Your subordinates still have to keep more capable people." Li Zhongyi directly ordered Li Haodong.

Li Haodong immediately beat his chest and saluted, and said loudly: "Back to the emperor, the subordinates must leave capable people and keep a close eye on every move in Hangzhou." ”

Li Zhongyi was quite satisfied with Li Haodong's answer, after all, Hangzhou was the most elite and wealthy area in the entire Wuyue Kingdom.

As long as Hangzhou City does not cause a big mess, no matter how chaotic other places are, the impact will be very limited after all.

However, Li Haodong's concerns are also very reasonable. Li Zhongyi thought about it, and asked Yang Wushuang: "How many troops can you draw?" ”

Yang Wushuang did not answer immediately, but after careful calculation, he reported: "We only have 20,000 mobile troops, and at most we will send 5,000 soldiers and 10,000 auxiliaries to Liao Shanhe." ”

Li Zhongyi said with a smile: "We have a total of 80,000 soldiers going south, and 15,000 are drawn out, and there are still 65,000 left." ”

Yang Wushuang also smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't say that there are still 65,000 soldiers, even if there are only 5,000 soldiers, on the frontal battlefield, the shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty are not our opponents." ”

That's a bit crazy!

However, Li Zhongyi knew in his heart that under the premise that the main force of the Southern Tang Dynasty was contained by Yang Lie, as long as there were sailors and artillery to help, it was already possible to sweep the inland states of the Southern Tang Dynasty with 5,000 soldiers and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers.

Before going south to pacify Wu Yueguo, the General Staff Department had already calculated that the minimum strength of the partial division only needed 30,000 people.

The name of the man, the shadow of the tree!

Yang Lie was the first fierce general under Li Zhongyi, and the 80,000 people he led, with the assistance of some sailors, confronted Lin Renzhao, presumably Lin Renzhao would not dare to be negligent.

The total strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty actually exceeded 200,000, but most of these soldiers and horses were scattered among various military states and could not fully form a joint force.

Li Zhongyi led 80,000 soldiers to the south, even if 20,000 soldiers were assigned to Liao Shanhe, the remaining 60,000 soldiers, plus 30,000 auxiliaries, were also an extremely large military force.

"In that case, then give Xiaoda another 10,000 soldiers, right?" Li Zhongyi looked at Yang Wushuang.

Yang Wushuang immediately realized that Li Zhongyi didn't want Wu Yue's rich land to cause a big mess.

He arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, it is better to give Liao Du another 10,000 soldiers and 10,000 auxiliaries." After all, there are still 30,000 soldiers and horses on the side of the sailors. ”

"Okay, just do as you say." Li Zhongyi quickly slapped the board, Wu Yueguo's hometown is an elite area, and heavy troops must be stationed to suppress it.