Li Liang was forced by himself and hurriedly got into trouble. Most of the gold and silver in his hands were detained by Li Wenyuan in his home in Wuwei County, and the weapons that were originally intended to be used to recruit soldiers were all captured by Li Wenyuan, and the dry food that the soldiers made before leaving could only barely support them to reach Zhangye County. If Li Rail's henchmen in Zhangye County don't jump out and use their own abilities to replenish Li Rail's military rations and supplies, then Li Rail's army is afraid that if it can't reach Yiwu County, it will be disheartened because of the lack of food and grass, and finally be completely annihilated under the encirclement and suppression of Zhang Juntai's army.

This was obviously not the ending Li Liang wanted, so after he led his troops to set off, he sent someone to infiltrate Zhangye County in advance to inform his former henchmen to prepare military rations for the army. Of course, the premature annihilation of Li Rail's army is not the ending that Li Wenyuan wants, Li Wenyuan's mind Zhang Juntai is also very clear, leading the army to follow behind without hurry, not only so that Li Rail's army does not have time to raise food on the spot, but also does not press Li Rail's army too tightly to fight the trapped beasts, and the last fight to break the net is always giving this Li Rail's army a hope that it can survive if it advances.

"The rebels are our rice and food, and the bandits are our food and clothing. As long as they are still alive for a day, I will be able to expand the army with confidence, and ask the court for military salaries and weapons. Although I am very sorry for the people under the control of the rebels, for the sake of long-term peace and stability in the Central Plains in the future, I can only wronged them for a while. Li Wenyuan said in a secret conversation with Zhang Juntai.

When he had just implemented the system of popular participation in politics and discussion in Wuwei County and Guantun City, which he controlled, Li Wenyuan was still worried that it would attract unanimous opposition from all strata. But I never expected that, as Xue Renyue said to himself, as long as he could make those poor students from the common people feel that they could get tangible benefits for the people as much as possible, then they would become Li Wenyuan's most loyal supporters.

These things made Li Wenyuan have to sigh, no matter when and where, those students with cultural knowledge will always be the most enthusiastic supporters of reform, they are not dragged down by the family, they read the books of sages just to seek some welfare for the people. If you need to win over your own bureaucrats, then these poor students who were ostracized by the official places at that time and read poetry and books are the best choice.

Li Wenyuan was sitting in the hall of the Hansheng Courtyard at this time, holding the list that Li Min had given him. The list was full of the names of dozens of people, all of whom had good results in this imperial examination and had some ability. At this time, those people were in the courtyard of the Cold Life Courtyard, waiting for Li Wenyuan's reception. Li Wenyuan saw that all the people in the courtyard were ready, so he casually put the list on the table next to him, walked out of the hall, and came to the courtyard.

Looking at the cold students in the courtyard with grateful eyes, Li Wenyuan was also very grateful in his heart, looked around and said: "Candidates, from today onwards, you will officially enter the official career and become a member of the officialdom of Zhangye County. You are all the world's elites selected through the imperial examination, you come from the people, and you are well aware of the suffering of the people. I hope that you will do more things that will benefit the people during your tenure. If I want to find out which of you are rampant in the township and the common people, then don't blame me for being ruthless, since I, Li Wenyuan, can let you sit in that official position, I can also pull you down from that official position. I hope you will be down-to-earth, do more things for the people, and work for the people. ”

Those candidates were originally very grateful when they saw Li Wenyuan, after all, if it weren't for Li Wenyuan's efforts to hold this relatively fair imperial examination, they might not have the opportunity to be officials so far, and at this time, they heard Li Wenyuan admonish himself and others to do more things for the people, and the words revealed their concern for the people, and their hearts were also full of enthusiasm, and even knelt down and said: "The teachings of the teacher, the students remember them." Even if he died, he didn't dare to take half a step. ”

Li Wenyuan nodded at the group of candidates and asked them to stand up. At this time, the champion of this year's scientific examination stepped forward and said to Li Wenyuan with courage: "Can you please ask my teacher to give me a motto, so that I will always be by my side as an official, so that I will not forget my original intention." ”

Li Wenyuan was stunned by the question, but then more than ten years of exam-taking education allowed him to quickly find the answer in his mind, and after a slight change, he said aloud: "It is the flowers and plants in the world, Yu Ailian." The lotus is out of the mud but not stained, and the water is clear and rippled but not demonic. The middle through the outside is straight, not vines and branches, the fragrance is far and clear, the pavilion is planted, and it can be viewed from a distance and can not be blasphemed. The lotus, the gentleman of the flower. Although Wanger and others are in the officialdom, they do not forget their original intentions, but they still hold the courtesy of a gentleman and do the things of a gentleman. ”

At this time in Zhangye County, Li Liang's army finally reached the city. The Zhangye county guard had already opened the city gate to wait for Li Rail's arrival, and when he saw Li Rail leading his troops to the city, he immediately arranged for people to hand over the food and weapons prepared in advance to Li Rail. Li Liang was greatly moved, and said: "I have countless old departments in Zhangye County, but now I dare to risk the condemnation of the world, and you are the only one who comes to respond to me." ”

The two exchanged a few polite words, and the rear army scout did not come to report that Zhang Juntai's army had caught up, and it was more than ten miles behind him. Li Liang hurriedly ordered people to transport the baggage materials to Dunhuang County, the next stop, and he took 5,000 elite soldiers to set up a position here, preparing to meet Zhang Juntai.

The subsequent scouts went to reconnoiter and brought back the information that Zhang Juntai's army had set up a large camp on the spot and was not in a hurry to attack, and those large armies were still stopped more than a dozen miles away. Li Liang's questions along the way have finally been answered: this is exactly the plan that Li Wenyuan has set for himself to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf.

Then he asked the scouts to go to investigate the situation again, and he said to the Zhangye County Guard: "Zhang Juntai obviously has several times my strength but did not encircle and annihilate me here, presumably to take the opportunity of me to go west to purge the officialdom of the entire Western Regions." As my confidant, you will not be able to escape from it, so it is better to go to Yiwu County with me, and I will promise you glory and wealth. ”

Zhangye County Shou said: "I have long had the will to die, and I have a large family, so it is difficult to clean it up for a while. If I go to Yiwu County with you, it will definitely drag down the movement of the army, so you can take your men and horses first, and I will delay Zhang Juntai's army for you for a while and a half. ”

When Li Liang was about to persuade Zhangye to defend again, the scouts came back with the latest news: Zhang Juntai's army began to set up camp after lunch. Pack up your things and prepare to continue to move closer to Zhangye County. After hearing this, Li Rail hurriedly turned over and got on the horse, hugged his fist at Zhangye Junshou and said, "Today's grace, I Li Rail wrote it down." If he becomes emperor in the future, he will definitely treat your descendants well. Then he hurriedly fled with the army to Dunhuang County.