Chapter 469: A Guest Comes Nearby

Winter is gone, 'spring' is coming again, everything is the same, but the scene is different.

Several horsemen came east along the Purple River, and the knight led by him was a middle-aged man, with a long beard floating in front of his 'chest' in the wind, his eyes were like torches, and he was experiencing the huge project around him with great interest.

Lai Yao has seen a lot of road construction, and such a large-scale road paved with gravel and triple soil as raw materials is the first time to see and hear about it. Out of the Alai Mountain, all the way over, accompanied by a long dragon on the way, tens of thousands of strong forces face the ground, back to the sky, sweat like rain and the earth to compete, dozens of steps away, there is a small stone mountain half a person high, made of countless gravel piles, east and west, endless.

Lai Yao has been an official for many years and has rich experience, and he can see at a glance that those heavenly gravels are used to pave the road, and the tens of thousands of strong forces in front of him are digging the roadbed.

The Ningyuan Iron Cavalry Knight, who led the way, proudly told Lai Yao that all the main forces building the road were prisoners. Lai Yao understood what he meant, in addition to showing off his victory, it was more about reflecting the superiority of the residents of Ningyuan.

Compared with Ning Yuan, the main force of road construction in the Tang Dynasty was the peasants who served in forced labor. Peasants serving forced labor will definitely affect farming and year-end harvests, and service is a drudgery of sweat and tears, not to mention coolies, but also have to bring their own grain and grass tools, in fact, no one will work hard, so-so to cope with the past, in order to grab time, after the completion of the completion of the return to farming; Another problem is that the migrant workers gathered from all over the world are loose and unorganized, and their sense of responsibility can be said to be zero, and the officials cannot manage it at all, resulting in extremely inefficient road construction, and its quality can be imagined.

Looking at the front again, Ning Yuan's main construction force is a strong slave, obviously divided into a team, each with its own responsible road section, and there are overseers guarding and inspecting, and anyone who tries to be lazy will be punished by hunger. The knight who led the way said that the general exempted the whip and other hard corporal punishments, unless there was an extremely bad incident, under normal circumstances, the slaves who stole 'rape' and played slippery were replaced by starvation soft corporal punishment, high-intensity physical work, one less meal could not stand, soft corporal punishment was applied for several days, and the slaves were obedient and honest, and did not dare to easily cross the thunder pool.

Others may not understand, do you need to be so troublesome to deal with slaves, a whip past, kill the 'chicken' and make an example of the monkey, who else dares to disobey? Lai Yao didn't think so, he was the one who led the soldiers, he knew the temperament of the soldiers, these slaves were all 'colored' prisoners of war, there was no shortage of fierce soldiers, for them, the effect of hunger was more effective than the leather whip, and it was not easy to arouse the resentment and resistance of the rest of the slaves.

Sure enough, it's a master! Li Huaitang has invisibly raised a notch in Lai Yao's heart.

When he received the news of Anxi's visit, Li Huaitang was playing with his two sons. In the past winter, he has never achieved double cultivation with his wife and added children, and the beauties' stomachs are flat one by one, and their eyes are resentful.

The arrival of the distinguished guests interrupted the warmth in the General's Mansion, and it coincided with dinner time, so Li Huaitang arranged a family banquet.

Only Pei Xiaoniang accompanied Li Huaitang to the banquet, her identity was Princess Broken Leaves, of course, she inevitably had to appear for entertainment.

Others present were Tang Huang's eyes and ears in Ningyuan, and Li Jingzhong, the superintendent of the army.

After three rounds of wine and some greetings, Li Huaitang was already very familiar with Lai Yao, and the two fell in love and talked about everything. From the customs of the Western Regions to the policy measures towards the Hu people, from the construction of the Silk Road to the significance of trade between the Tang Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions and even Western countries, and even talked about the food on the table.

There are many cattle and sheep in the Western Regions, but there are few eggs and birds, which can be said to be a rare and luxurious thing, especially in the beginning of the 'spring' period. However, at this family dinner, poultry 'meat' and eggs were the most common dishes. The Anxi soldiers who came with Yao were almost silent, and they feasted outside the banquet hall.

Lai Yao was quite surprised to learn that there was a large-scale farm in Ningyuan City, although he had not been in office for a long time, but he had traveled through most of Anxi, and knew that Anxi was barren and did not produce much. The Western Regions are adjacent to Anxi, and the situation is similar, and he really can't think of where Li Huaitang can 'get' to feed and raise poultry.

When it comes to large-scale poultry breeding, Laiyao has a strong interest, all along, grain is the weakness of Anxi, in order to transfer grain from the Hexi region to fill the food gap in Anxi, I don't know how much manpower and material resources are spent on 'wave' every year, if Li Huaitang's secret is transplanted to Anxi, so that Anxi is self-sufficient, it is a great achievement for the country and the people, and it plays an immeasurable role in the long-term peace and stability of Anxi.

To Lai Yao's disappointment, Li Huaitang was obviously unwilling to share his successful experience, and always looked at other things. Lai Yao pinned his hopes on Li Jingzhong, hoping that he could say a few words to pry Li Huaitang's mouth open, however, he was disappointed again.

Li Jingzhong's 'spirit' was sluggish and absent-minded, and he yawned again and again, tears kept pouring out, and it seemed that he had not met with Zhou for several days.

As for Princess Broken Leaves, she can't hope for it, what can be the identity of Princess Datang? Marrying a 'chicken' with a 'chicken', marrying a dog with a dog, it is natural for her to protect her husband's interests.

It's not that he's careful, it's just that Li Huaitang doesn't want to block himself, his poultry farming has no technology at all, as long as he says it once, the world can follow suit. Once the core secrets of poultry farming are revealed, Tianzhu Shatang, which is usually uncared for, will inevitably rise and ruin his farm, and at that time, no one will please him. At least until the sugar beet sugar is successfully squeezed, Li Huaitang does not plan to make it public.

Pei Xiaoniang was uneasy throughout the banquet, and her eyes always looked out of the hall intentionally or unintentionally, as if there was something outside that attracted her.

The atmosphere of the banquet was ordinary, and under the urging of Li Jingzhong, it ended quickly. Li Jingzhong found an excuse and left in a hurry, Lai Yao and the others were inexplicable and puzzled, only Li Huaitang's heart was like a mirror, and the information about him had already been collected by the spies. Since returning from the United States, Li Jingzhong has been 'obsessed' with Xixili's filial piety Tianzhu God 'medicine', and he must take it every day.

Coming to the study, the two began to get into the subject.

From Yao's mouth, Li Huaitang learned that the Khitan real power chieftain could suddenly rebel against the Tang Dynasty, the emperor appointed the prince Li Xiang as the commander, Li Yi as the general manager of the Youzhou march, ready to crusade against the Khitan, at the juncture, the Tubo people were stupid 'want' to move, relying on the strategic Shibao City, the thief's heart did not die, and often sent troops to attack the Tang Dynasty army and people. In order to avoid the unsustainable money and food of the two-front war, the northern expedition had to be stopped. The intention of the imperial court was to first solve the threat of the Tibetans, and then turn back to deal with the Khitans.

It may be because of Wang Zhonghe's proud exploits in Longyou's battle against the Tubo people, the governor of Shanzhou, Longyou Jiedu made Zhang Shousi to name him to come to the account, and the emperor has agreed to Zhang Shousi's request. This is one of the purposes of Laiyao's visit to Ningyuan City.

Another decree of the emperor seems to be very absurd, and he actually asked Li Huaitang to send troops to escort Li Jingzhong to envoy Xiao Bolu and order his monarch to enter the Tang Dynasty to plead guilty.

"Isn't this going to death for nothing?" Li Huaitang was stunned and immediately objected.

Xiao Bolu and Ning Yuan are separated by many mountains, and there are fewer soldiers, just like a 'meat' bun beating a dog, and if you go more, food supply is a headache, and the biggest problem is how to break through the natural danger checkpoints and Lianyunbao along the way.

Lai Yao seemed to have anticipated Li Huaitang's attitude, and said unhurriedly: "This matter started because of the general, of course the general has to do a force!" You can't just hide and snicker when you get a benefit. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Li Huaitang looked at Lai Yao and frowned. He thinks that he does not owe Datang, a rich tribute every year, and last year he also sent Broken Leaf Town back to Datang's arms, when it comes to goodwill to Datang, who in the world is the best?

Lai Yao smiled and said: "The general hugged the beauty, and the lonely Khitan people were lonely, so it was suddenly rebellious, and it was because of the request to marry the princess that he failed to get his wish!" In order to marry the general, my Datang fell into the dilemma of fighting on both sides, how to say, the general also had to support. Moreover, the secret decree of the Holy Lord said that the general had sworn to deal with the combined forces of Tubo and Xiaobolu in the direction of the Five Senses, and to ensure the safety of Anxi. ”

The place where Xiao Bolu is located is the back 'door' of the Tubo people, and it is also the back 'door' of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, and it is the second battlefield of the two powers.

The abacus of the imperial court was so loud that it 'wanted' to use the power of Ning Yuan to cut off the arms of the Tubo people.

Li Huaitang fell silent, Xiao Bolu is easy to deal with, and the harsh environment of nature is difficult to overcome!

Lai Yao paused for a while and continued: "As long as the general takes Xiao Bolu and Anxi connects Ningyuan's avenue, I will definitely cooperate with Laiyao." ”

Lai Yao's words are not so much 'temptation' and 'confusion' as a threat, and its subtext is: if you can't take Xiao Bolu, don't think about building roads, and trade is also worth reconsidering.

"Let me think about it." Li Huaitang didn't care, because he suddenly had some ideas, but he was not mature yet.

In the future, Yao sent out the 'door', and when he was leaving, Lai Yao turned around and said: "I almost forgot to tell you, Chang'an has four Longwu army guards, and they will go to Xiaobolu with the envoy, Pei Qing is among them, it is estimated that Princess Broken Leaf has already met with him." ”

Li Huaitang was taken aback, when he was in Chang'an, he had a two-sided relationship with this brother-in-law, and after a period of time, the other party put on a military uniform again, so he didn't recognize it just now, no wonder Ruoxi kept looking at those guards during the banquet. Pei Qing's appearance in the military uniform has become a lot tougher, and even Pei Xiaoniang didn't dare to recognize him for a while, let alone Li Huaitang.

After greeting Pei Qing outside the big 'gate', looking at Pei Qing's back, Li Huaitang couldn't help but smile bitterly while being annoyed. In order to achieve the goal, the court 'forced' him to send troops Xiao Bolu can be said to do everything, even playing the family card, trying to put pressure on him through Princess Broken Leaves, who made him famous as a "love maniac"?

Sure enough, in the house, Pei Xiaoniang was waiting for him. Please keep in mind the URL, if you like "War Owl in Tang" written by the wolf under the moon