Chapter 408: Squeeze

Since Turgish lost his qualification to enter the ring, the duel for the princess was won by Li Huaitang without any suspense, and the final result was the last thing the samurai family wanted to see before, but now it has become an excuse for the samurai to avoid bankruptcy. The gambling game is set up to be a total of three duels, but in fact only one and a half duels, did you not expect that the duel would be aborted due to unexpected circumstances? On this ground, the samurai only paid half of the winnings, and even blackened the bets that the rest of the casinos transferred to his casino to reduce the risk, and directly refused to pay, giving the reason that the gambling game did not exist. Originally, according to Wu Xin's proposal, he refused to pay all and swallowed all the bets, but considering that the people who placed bets included the powerful and powerful in the Guanzhong region, hundreds of thousands of Chang'an residents and countless foreign businessmen, Wu Zhong still gritted his teeth and cut the 'flesh' and bleed. After all, public anger is not to be committed, especially the anger of the powerful. The samurai were the initiators, and the rest of the gambling houses followed suit, even more than that, and the samurai swallowed their bets, and they had to pass on the losses to the gamblers. Therefore, there are countless casinos that have quietly closed overnight.

The gamblers were furious that they were deprived of half of their winnings for no reason, but the owner behind the gambling house, which has always been a big bully and took the lead in setting a precedent, was the samurai brother and the uncle of the dynasty who was bathed in holy grace. Compared to many unlucky people who don't receive the prize money and lose all their money, it is lucky to get half of the prize.

On the day when the results of the duel in the ring were announced, there was a long queue in front of the surviving gambling hall 'door', scrambling to claim the principal and income from the bookmakers who usually swallowed countless people and did not spit out bones.

In the restaurant of Happy Tonight, two distinguished guests drank in front of the low window facing the street on the second floor, and opposite them was the largest gambling hall in Chang'an City, the first hall of the martial arts, which was blocked by thousands of people at the moment, and the crowd was surging.

"Haha, thank you General Wang Ye for watching it, isn't the prince afraid of burying your thousand guan by mistake?" Li Huaitang is funny and angry, Li Yi, the old fox, pushes himself into the ring first, bets on himself to make a profit, no matter how he looks at it, he feels that he is regarded as a cash cow to make money.

Li Yi smiled modestly: "It's just a good deal, I have always been very confident in the general!" More confidence in the strength of the samurai! ”

"Haha! General Wangye's vision is indeed unique, and there are not many people who can snatch a piece of 'fat' and 'meat' from the mouth of the martial family, but I am afraid that the martial brothers will know that their faces are ugly. Li Huaitang laughed and raised his glass to invite Li Yi.

The two drank another full cup, Li Yi put down the cup, and said indifferently: "I, the little county king, only take him for more than 100 times, and those princes and magnates are ruthless, and most of the blood of the martial brothers has been drunk by them, and I am only at the bottom of the list if I want to resent him." Hehe, I'm afraid the general also has a lot of martial blood in his stomach, right? ”

"Heroes see things the same way, who makes us all heroes?" Li Huaitang raised his glass again, and some things for some people can't be too obvious, otherwise the old fox in front of him will definitely think of a way to grab money.

Sure enough, Li Huaitang's worries were right. Li Yi's eyes rolled wildly, and he smiled: "Shangton is me who is the east, and this time it is the general's turn." ”

Li Huaitang shook his head and didn't answer directly, but changed the topic: "I don't know what the general is looking for me?" ”

Li Yi said: "Of course, it's a matter of 'handing' camels!" ”

"Didn't the Holy One agree?" Li Huaitang looked at Li Yi suspiciously, for fear that something would change.

Li Yi said: "Agree, yes, but I don't know if the general can prepare a fine of 300,000 yuan?" The Holy One is very concerned about this matter, if the general uses a strategy to delay the army, I am afraid that the 'exchange' between us will not be too smooth! ”

Li Yi made it clear that he would be shameless to the end, and forcibly tied the previous 'transaction' with the huge fine this time, forcing Li Huaitang to implement the 300,000 copper coins that the emperor desperately needed when he left Chang'an.

300,000 guan is a shocking amount, but Li Huaitang has already become a bamboo in his 'chest', and he didn't bother with Li Yi at the moment, but just smiled mysteriously: "General Wang Ye doesn't have to worry, you just need to prepare the bow and arrows I need, and then the camel and 300,000 guan will be 'handed over' to you." It's just that what is the saying that Ningyuan City is the penal colony of the Tang Dynasty? ”

Li Yi didn't know where Li Huaitang was going to 'get' 300,000 yuan, and it would definitely be too late to transport it from Ningyuan City, so who would borrow such a large sum of money from him for no reason? Could it be that it is to win the samurai? No, it's impossible, to win 300,000 yuan, you have to have millions of yuan......

"I said General Wangye, did you hear me?" Li Huaitang stretched out his hand and shook it in front of Li Yi's eyes to attract his attention.

"Oh, sorry, I lost my mind." Li Yi smiled and said, "General rest assured, Ningyuan City has been issued to the Criminal Department as a place of exile, regarding this article, the Holy Lord supports you unconditionally, after all, balancing the number of races in the Western Regions is related to the vital interests of the Tang Dynasty." At present, the first batch of exiled prisoners are being concentrated in Chang'an, and there are hundreds of them along with their families, and the general will be responsible for their food rations on the road. ”

It would save a lot of trouble for these hundreds of prisoners and their families to follow Li Huaitang back to Ningyuan City, at least there would be no need for Datang to spend manpower and material resources to escort them, so the Criminal Department was particularly active in cooperating, and if time permitted, they also planned to gather the exiled prisoners in Henan Province into the second batch and 'hand' them over to Li Huaitang together. Thousands of people are sentenced to exile every year in the Tang Dynasty, together with tens of thousands of their families, before Ningyuan City, Lingnan has always been the first choice for exile, but the living conditions in Lingnan are not ordinarily poor, and those who have been exiled in the past will not survive more than a year. Is it the boundary of the Western Regions where Ningyuan City is located, the officials in the Criminal Department think that there is no most terrifying, only more terrifying, and many perverted officials are quite satisfied with Ning Yuancheng as a place of exile.

"What about 300,000?" Li Yi has always been haunted, and his heart is somewhat unsteady.

"Hehe, don't worry, someone will naturally come to send me money then." Li Huaitang's face was full of pride, but he refused to tell Li Yi the details. In fact, Li Yi must have heard of it, but he didn't care much, a few days ago, Chang'an City was full of wind and rain, Ningyuan General Li Huaitang wanted to sell his equipment, and sent an invitation to people with lofty ideals in the world, and ten days later held a bid in Chang'an Furong Building, and only the highest price was won. Compared with 300,000 guan, how much can Li Huaitang's equipment be worth? Li Yi didn't think that Li Huaitang would fill this huge gap by selling knives, horses, and pearls.

It doesn't matter if you can't figure it out, what Li Yi wants is the result, and others dare not say that Li Huaitang's ability is that he is confident.

"Since the general said so, I will wait and see, and I hope that the general will give me another surprise when he succeeds. Come on, we've got a toast! Li Yi took the initiative to raise a glass for the first time.

I don't know how many cups it is, Li Huaitang Cup bottomed out.

"Oh, there's one more thing that troubles the prince, the general."

"What's the matter?"

Regarding the matter of the Tang mercenaries, Li Huaitang originally wanted to talk to Li Longji in detail, but where was the opportunity to meet with the emperor that he, a foreign minister, could casually have? It was also a last resort to convey it through Li Yi.

Li Huaitang's expression quickly changed to serious, and said: "At the end of the year, the battle between my Ning Yuan and Shi Guo started as scheduled, and then it is very likely to encounter the reinforcements of the Tuqi Shi people, Lord Wang, you see, I, this army is insufficient, can the Holy Lord pick up some troops for me?" ”

The Tang Dynasty's troops in Anxi and Beiting are insufficient, and it is necessary to strictly prevent the attack of Tubo and Zhuhu, besides, the army has not moved, the grain and grass go first, which involves the problem of money, and now the strategic focus of the Tang Dynasty is Tubo, followed by the Khitan and the Eastern Turks, the situation in the Western Regions is not so urgent for the Tang Dynasty, so the resources of Anxi are not inclined enough, which is also one of the reasons why the Tang Dynasty court relies on Li Huaitang.

Li Yi was silent, shaking his head and refusing. This matter has long been said, and the two sides have reached a tacit understanding, and now Li Huaitang suddenly mentioned that if he is not a scoundrel, then there must be a reason.

"At the very least, the Tang army should be heavily pressed to attract the forces of the Tuqi people." Li Huaitang lowered the conditions.

"Hehe, if the general has something to say, please speak directly, there is no need to beat around the bush." Li Yi saw Li Huaitang's tricks, he ate a Jiazi's rice, and he has been in the army for many years, how can he not know Li Huaitang's roundabout tactics?

"The general of the prince has eyes like a torch, and he is discerning, and he has 'gotten' the axe at the 'door' after work." Li Huaitang smiled awkwardly, "Then let's be straight, I want to hire some soldiers in the Tang army to go to Ningyuan." ”

"Hire, hire Tang Jun?" Li Yi was dumbfounded, he had lived for more than 60 years, and he had only heard of hired long-term laborers, tenants, coolies, etc., and this mercenary was the first time he had heard of it.

Li Huaitang ignored Li Yi's surprise and said, "I paid to hire warriors in the Dragon Martial Cavalry, of course, provided that they were voluntary. This cost, one for Datang and one for the soldiers. Three years, at the expiration of which they quit my Ningyuan Iron Rider sequence. ”

"This?" Li Yi's brain is racing to weigh the pros and cons.

Without waiting for Li Yi to express his position, Li Huaitang continued: "I am a poor man and don't have much money, I plan to hire 800 people in the first batch, and pay 80,000 yuan to Datang for 'sex' at a time." ”

"Eighty thousand?!" Li Yi glared, 80,000 Guan could recruit thousands of soldiers for Datang, however, Li Yi knew that many of the soldiers of the Dragon Warrior Cavalry were fierce soldiers with combat experience, and they were not comparable to recruits.

Even if he had enough financial resources, Li Huaitang didn't dare to hire too many people at one time, eight hundred people was only a small number for the huge Tang army, and it would not arouse the suspicion of the Tang Dynasty, however, relative to the number of people, the employment fee of 80,000 guan was not a small amount, and the emperor and ministers were not moved.

Li Yi thought about it, he was indeed a little moved, Li Huaitang's proposal was obviously counted in one fell swoop, the Tang Dynasty not only reinforced Ning Yuan, but also made a pure income, the vacated quota of the dragon warrior cavalry was an opportunity to make a lot of money for those powerful ministers and generals, his only faint worry was that the dragon warrior cavalry guarding the capital would be hollowed out, but after thinking about it, eight hundred people were really insignificant in the thirty thousand or so dragon warrior cavalry.

"Okay, the old man will talk to the saint, whether you succeed or not depends on your sincerity."

Li Huaitang understood and said with a smile: "There must be sincerity, please tell the Holy Lord that 300,000 yuan will be paid on time." ”

The two laughed again. In the midst of laughter, Hu Yijian knocked on the 'door' and came in, carrying a bulging bag in his hand, his face full of joy: "General, the ones that were just exchanged on the opposite side are all flying money, and there are more than a thousand yuan!" ”

Li Yi slapped the case, "You cunning fox, today, no, you will be invited in the future!"

&, If you like "War Owl in Tang" written by the wolf under the moon