Surrendering to the Northern Wei Dynasty and surrendering to a local power are completely different in terms of reputation, at least in terms of status, Baluotu and Zhao Junsheng are the same, and he can't accept it in his heart.

However, the situation made him have to bow his head, first of all, from the outside, Rouran in the north and Kumoxi in the east are both great enemies with him, and it is unlikely that he will abandon his previous suspicions; Internally, although there are two or three hundred thousand people in the east, only twenty or thirty thousand can fight, but he is only the leader of the alliance, there are too many tribes in the eastern people, and the hearts of the people are not in order, and what is worse is that they are seriously lacking in iron horses and bows and arrows, after all, they were migrated from the north by the Northern Wei Dynasty again and again, and the Northern Wei Dynasty naturally would not allow them to have too many iron tools to make blades, nor would they be allowed to have too many bows and crossbows.

From these internal and external aspects, Baluotu did not have the confidence to turn his face with Zhao Junsheng, and he had to surrender to Zhao Junsheng, otherwise once Zhao Junsheng turned his face with him, he would be attacked on all sides, and the two or three hundred thousand people would be finished.

But Baluotu is a barbarian, he is unruly by nature, and it is impossible for him to surrender unconditionally to Zhao Junsheng, "Li Zhonglang, I, Baluotu, can surrender to the king of Liaodong, and we people in the east can all submit to the king of Liaodong, but what good is this for me?" ”

Li Ji said: "First, the prince of my family can write to the imperial court, proposing to canonize the leader of Baluotu as the Khan of Eile, with the current status and strength of my prince, presumably the emperor will not give this face!" ”

"Second, the leader of Baluotu can buy all the furs and livestock produced by your Dongluo people, we have all the bags in Youzhou, the price is the same as other places, we only recognize the leader, and do not trade with other tribes, so that if the furs and livestock of other tribes want to sell, they must be sold to the leader, as for the price at which the leader buys from them, this has nothing to do with my Youzhou, and the leader must know how big the benefits are!"

"Thirdly, I will send troops from Youzhou near the border between Eastern Ul and Rouran and Kumoxi to help the Eastern Ele people resist the attacks from Rouran and Kumoxi!"

Each of these three said that it was on the heart of Baluotu, and he agreed without too much hesitation and thinking: "Okay, I Baluotu agreed!" ”

Li Ji smiled and said, "Slow, Leader Baluotu, since the prince of my family has given you such a generous treatment, should the leader also do something that he should do as a subordinate?" ”

Baluotu is not a fool, after hearing this, he knew that Zhao Junsheng must have requirements for him, so he asked: "What does the prince need me to do in Baluotu?" ”

Li Ji put forward several conditions: "First, the prince of my family will send officials to assist the leader in handling the government affairs of the Ele people!" Second, the prince of my family wants to recruit warriors among the Eile people, and the leader must vigorously support them, once the Eile warriors join the army, they will have military pay and other benefits with other soldiers of the Youzhou army! Third, if Youzhou is attacked by other forces, the leader must send troops to advance and retreat with my Youzhou! ”

Baluotu was a little unhappy, "The third condition, I can agree." The first and second conditions are too harsh, and it would be nice for the affairs of my Eile people to be handled by me myself, and it would be too long for the prince to send officials to intervene; It is impossible for the prince to recruit warriors among my people, and no one will want to! ”

Li Ji's face was serious: "The leader doesn't think that submission is just a name, right?" Since you have received the benefits of my lord, how can you do it without paying some price? How can there be such a good thing in the world? Could it be that the leader said that surrendering to the prince of my family was only verbal, and he was not willing at all in his heart? Are you planning to fool my prince, don't you think that my prince's armor is unfavorable? ”

"No, no, no, I didn't mean that!" Baluotu hurriedly waved his hand to deny.

Li Ji shouted and asked, "That's not what you mean?" So what do you mean? ”

Baluo Tu hesitated, "That's it, Li Zhonglang let me think about it, I can't be the master of this matter alone!" ”

"Yes, the lower official hopes that the leader will give an answer as soon as possible!"

In the next few days, Li Ji successively visited the tribal leaders of the Eastern Eile people, bribed them with a lot of money, and obtained their support.

Baluo Tu couldn't sit still, and immediately went to visit Li Ji in person, and agreed to all the conditions proposed by Li Ji.

Li Ji returned with a full load and was warmly welcomed by Zhao Junsheng and Youzhou officials.

When Li Ji returned to Jixian County, Shanggu Taishou Luo Yan was still in Jixian County, Zhao Junsheng chatted with him every once in a while, and sent someone to send Luo Yan back within a few days, and also sent two officials to Luo Yan as an adjutant to assist him in handling the government affairs of the valley, and at the same time sent a team of soldiers and horses to garrison the upper valley, which was called to assist the valley to strengthen the garrison.

After Zhao Junsheng successively grasped the territory of Shanggu and the Eile people, he completely opened up the connection with Wuchuan Town, so that the territory he could control was connected with Wuchuan, and the road was unimpeded, whether it was political, military, or economic, all aspects of exchanges could be carried out.

After opening up the connection and connection between Youzhou and Wuchuan, and taking a large area of land between the outer city and the inner Great Wall in his hands, Zhao Junsheng decided to comprehensively rectify government and military affairs, and in fact integrate all the forces in the area under his control.

The most important thing is the appointment and transfer of officials, the purpose of which is to strengthen the control of the Assassin's Mansion over the counties and counties, and concentrate the power in the Assassin's Office.

The specific means of rectifying the administration of officials are, on the one hand, to strengthen the investigation and handling of corruption in officialdom; On the other hand, supervise the implementation of the decrees issued by the Assassin Prefecture in various counties and counties.

So what is the ultimate purpose of this? Of course, it is to remove the moths of Youzhou officialdom, and at the same time remove officials who are loyal to the imperial court but not loyal to Zhao Junsheng, and remove some officials who are incompetent.

Zhao Junsheng specifically mentioned this point when he convened his subordinate officials to discuss government affairs, of course, it was impossible to state his purpose, but he only put forward some requirements.

Li Yuande stood up when Zhao Junsheng proposed to rectify the officialdom in order to strengthen the control of various counties and counties: "Lord Wang, the lower officials have two suggestions, I don't know whether to talk about it or not?" ”

Zhao Junsheng looked at Li Yuande and raised his hand: "You say!" ”

Li Yuande arched his hand to Zhao Junsheng and other officials: "Since the prince proposed in Youzhou to levy some additional taxes on each household of the people to pay the officials and the army to pay the army, there is indeed a lot less corruption in the officialdom, and the vast majority of officials have salaries and no longer covet the property of the government, but after a long time, some officials are inevitably greedy enough, some of them are still staring at the property of the government, and some people are secretly asking for bribes from merchants, rich families and ordinary people, if the merchants, rich families and ordinary people do not give them benefits, They just drag their feet and don't do anything for them, or they often go for trouble! ”

"The lower officials think that people's greed is endless, and for the greed of officials and generals, they must be carried out in strict ways, otherwise once they are left alone, there will be endless troubles! Therefore, the lower officials suggested the establishment of a new yamen, with fair and strict people in charge, in charge of official corruption and violations! ”

Regarding Li Yuande's suggestion, many officials did not understand and did not agree with it, including Mao Xiuzhi, who stood up and questioned: "Li Fujun, you said that the establishment of this special official to manage corruption and violation of the system, isn't the power of this yamen amazing?" Besides, once this yamen is established, won't it make everyone in danger for the officials and generals in Youzhou? Where is the mind to handle official business, lead troops in drills, and march to war? ”

Li Yuande obviously thought that there would be opposition for a long time, and he also thought about what objections would be raised by those who objected, he was prepared for a long time, and said: "Of course, the power of this yamen should be limited, and the suggestion of the lower officials is that this yamen should only be allowed to file a case for review of the suspected officials when there is relevant evidence, and only allow someone to come up with evidence to report or the order of a higher-level official to investigate the suspected object!" Secondly, this yamen only has the right to investigate and interrogate, but not the right to judge! ”

"As for this yamen will put everyone in Youzhou officialdom in danger, the lower officials think this is nonsense, as long as the officials and generals have no ghosts in their hearts, how can they be afraid? As the saying goes, don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night, as long as the officials are not corrupt and violated, as long as the officials are loyal to the prince and do practical things for the people under their rule, this yamen will not go to them for trouble! ”

The officials all pondered Li Yuande's words.

Zhao Junsheng said with a smile: "This king thinks that Li Taishou's suggestion is very good and very feasible!" In this way, first set up an inspector Cao to test the water, and as for the candidate for the governor Cao's army······"

At this time, Hua Mulan said loudly: "Lord Wang, I came to ask for this errand, this is an errand that offends people, how can ordinary people stop it?" I'm here to be this governor Cao to join the army, and the officials in the officialdom of Youzhou have to be more scruples, and they don't dare to take revenge! ”

"You?" Zhao Junsheng was surprised, let Hua Mulan be the governor of Cao, she is a woman, when the general leads the troops to fight because there is a precedent, but let a woman be an official is really unheard of in history, even if there is, it is also a female official in the palace who serves people.

Hua Mulan saw Zhao Junsheng's hesitant and suspicious expression, and was a little unhappy: "Does the prince think that Mulan can't do this Governor Cao join the army?" Or does the prince not think that women can be officials, or does the prince look down on women at all? ”

This hat was buttoned too big, Zhao Junsheng couldn't afford it, he waved his hand: "Of course not······ Okay, it's up to you to be the governor of Cao to join the army, but there is no extra room in the Assassin's Mansion, you need to go outside to find a new house as a yamen, and the officials and subordinates under the governor Cao also need you to choose from each Cao! ”