The content of the letter brought by Yang Guozhong to Liu Jun was shocking, and Wang Yuan was very happy at first, because he made a lot of money through the death of Wang Jie, Luo Xizao, and the official document of the Ministry of War conveyed the decision of the imperial court. In this way, Jiannan Dao, which originally had the least number of soldiers and horses among the ten major festivals of the Tang Dynasty, threw off the penultimate hat after increasing the number of 20,000 soldiers.

The number of regular soldiers under the jurisdiction of Jiannan Jiedu is 30,000 and 900, which of course does not mean that there are only 30,000 and 900 soldiers and horses in the entire Jiannan Province, in fact, the major state capitals to which Jiannan Province belongs have soldiers and horses, but most of them are another kind of armed force, they are all regimental training soldiers and horses. Just like a regular army and a local police force, most of the regimental training is to meet the security needs of the local state capital, not to fight.

At the beginning, the 500 soldiers and horses led by Liu Dehai were regimental training soldiers and horses, and although they also belonged to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, they were not much worse than the regular army in terms of equipment and actual combat capabilities. And what is really used to conquer other countries to march and fight is the regular soldiers and horses led by the Jiannan Dao Jiedu envoy.

This time, the number of soldiers increased by 20,000 from 30,000 and 900 at once, which is equivalent to allowing more than 50,000 soldiers and horses in Jiannan Province, and these soldiers and horses were all supported by the imperial court at the expense of equipment. In terms of strength, it has risen sharply.

With the increase of 20,000 soldiers, the recruits in the Jiannan army who were recruited in excess of the number did not have to be dismissed, but only needed to be registered and reported to become a real member of the Jiannan army according to the procedure. Although Wang Yuan did not intend to dismiss them, not to mention that soldiers who were not justified in their names would cause trouble, and the Ministry of War would not allocate them equipment and salaries, even if Wang Yuan could save them in other ways such as regimental training of soldiers and horses, where would this salary come from, and where would the armor and horses come from? Want Wang Yuan to pay for it? Wang Yuan can't afford to raise thousands of people.

Therefore, after seeing the words of the Ministry of War, Wang Yuan smiled. This means that not only can the nearly 10,000 recruits who exceed the number of soldiers be saved, but he can also recruit 10,000 marches under his command, which is exactly what he has always dreamed of.

However, after reading Yang Guozhong's letter and Liu Jun's detailed description, Wang Yuan was not happy at all. Yang Guozhong made a wrong and stupid decision, or in his opinion, a smart decision. And this decision led to a series of consequences. Although Yang Guozhong boasted in the letter how he had obtained 20,000 soldiers and horses for Jiannan Dao with great difficulty, and even did not hesitate to break ground from An Lu Mountain, in Wang Yuan's view, the wheel of history had taken an unstoppable step forward in the direction he should have gone after this incident.

The 20,000 soldiers were indeed taken from An Lushan's Fan Yang Army and the Ping Lu Army, and Yang Guozhong did have the courage and dared to attack An Lushan. But An Lushan is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and after learning about this, he immediately sent An Qingxu into Chang'an to meet Xuanzong. After An Qingxu saw Xuanzong, he brought a copy of An Lushan's recital, on which An Lushan claimed that he was old and lacked enough energy to guard the northeastern border of the Tang Dynasty for His Majesty, and could no longer block the attack of the Khitans and Turks for His Majesty, so he asked Xuanzong to send a wise man to command the two armies of Fan Yang and Pinglu, and he wanted to tell the old man to resign Yunyun. He also said that he was fully loyal to His Majesty, and he did not hesitate to put the horse leather shroud in front of him, but what he was most afraid of was that the villain was making trouble behind him. He can die on the battlefield, but he never wants to die on the cold arrow behind him. A piece of love written in a fold is deep and impassioned, and tears flow.

Of course, Xuanzong knew what reason he was for, Yang Guozhong moved 20,000 troops from An Lu Mountain to Jiannan, and Xuanzong actually acquiesced. The imperial court could not afford to increase the number of troops in two places. Although the Tang Dynasty is rich, there are many places to use money, and most of the money cannot be used to raise soldiers, and the entire imperial court will be shut down in other aspects. For example, if you want to renovate the project of a hundred gardens for the concubine, the dragon pond of Xingqing Palace was flooded with heavy rain a few days ago, and the project that needs to be dredged and dredging the pond must be done. You can't always dignify Your Majesty of the Tang Dynasty, and even the palace where you live has been flooded, what kind of system is this.

Xuanzong didn't think about whether these large-scale construction works were correct. Over the years he had become accustomed to luxury, to living in the best palaces and to seeing the best views, and in his opinion, these expenses were essential. Therefore, on the issue of increasing troops in each section, Xuanzong can only favor one over the other. All the border towns are asking for more troops, and An Lushan is obviously more intimate, and he has his share almost every other year. The reason why Xuanzong agreed to Yang Guozhong's removal of An Lushan's troops was also because of Yang Guozhong's insistence and Jiannan Dao really had to increase the number of troops. At the same time, Xuanzong also wanted to see An Lushan's reaction. If An Lushan kept silent, this matter would have been fooled, and he would have been happy to shake his hands, but now he obviously failed to do so.

An Lushan's twists and turns are obviously not really resigned, but just playing with his temper. Of course, Xuanzong will not allow An Lushan to die old, because An Lushan is not old, and he has not yet reached the point where he cannot be effective. The more important reason is that in Xuanzong's mind, An Lushan is a fierce general in his own right, a guarantee of peace on the northeast border of the Tang Dynasty, and a pillar of the court in his mind. Except for An Lushan, Xuanzong had no choice in his mind to defend the northeast and let him sit back and relax.

But of course, Xuanzong can't embarrass Yang Guozhong, the way to be a king is to know how to balance the contradictions between his courtiers, or use these contradictions to serve the Tang Dynasty better. Under the previous circumstances, what Xuanzong had to do was to maintain Yang Guozhong's prestige and appease An Lushan's emotions. The number of 20,000 soldiers still has to be given to Jiannan, because Yang Guozhong is the left minister and the secretary of the military department, if the decision he made with his acquiescence is rejected by himself, Yang Guozhong may also have to resign and say goodbye. But on An Lushan's side, I'm afraid I need to give some compensation.

How to compensate? When Xuanzong was still under consideration, Li Linfu, who was still seriously ill, taught people to carry him into the palace on a soft seat to meet Xuanzong. During the audience, Li Linfu gave Xuanzong a solution, that is, to hand over the position of the envoy of the Hedong Province led by Wang Zhongji to An Lushan.

Li Linfu's reason is very sufficient, An Lushan needs to increase the number of troops to deal with the Khitan and Turks, and encircle the tranquility of the northeast border, since the imperial court cannot increase the number of troops for him, then if the soldiers and horses of Hedong Province Jiedu are handed over to An Lushan, it is just right to make Hedong Fanyang and Pinglu Sanjiedu become one. These three jiedu towns are connected together, and if they are handed over to An Lushan alone, the soldiers and horses can also be transferred and reinforced by each other, which just solves the problem of insufficient troops in the two towns of Fanyang and Pinglu as An Lushan said. When necessary, An Lushan can mobilize the soldiers and horses of the three towns to assist each other in reinforcements and jointly mobilize to fight. This not only solves the shortage of soldiers, but also makes effective use of the soldiers and horses raised by the imperial court. It is not that one place is in a state of insufficient troops, and the soldiers and horses in another place are in a state of idleness.

More importantly, this suggestion can also solve another problem, that is, the proposal of the crown prince Li Heng to recommend Wang Zhonghei to the court to serve as the secretary of the Zhongshu Pingzhang and the secretary of the criminal department. And Wang Zhongsi himself led the position of the envoy of the four towns of Hedong in Longyoushuo, Hexi, and now he is going to enter the dynasty to hold important positions, and it is obviously impossible for one person to shoulder so many important positions, and Xuanzong has been hesitant to agree to the prince's recommendation. If you can't cover everything, it will be a bad move to summon Wang Zhonghei into the court, and government affairs may be handled smoothly because of Wang Zhonghe's entry into the court, but if the border affairs of the four towns are affected, resulting in an emergency in the border towns, it is not to take care of one or the other.

Moreover, Wang Zhongsi himself has repeatedly expressed his desire to hand over the power of the two towns of Hedong and Shuofang to others. If it weren't for Li Heng's strong opposition, Xuanzong wouldn't want to refute the prince's face too much, I'm afraid that he would have approved Wang Zhonghe's invitation a long time ago.

Xuanzong had to admire Li Linfu's old ways. The old minister is the old minister, and the solution given at the critical time can be described as killing three birds with one stone. First, Jiannan Road can increase the number of troops, which can solve the urgent needs of the southwest and strengthen the border defense in the west. Second, handing over the Hedong Road to An Lushan can appease An Lushan's emotions and help An Lushan guard the northeast border town. Third, Wang Zhonghe's resignation as the envoy of the Jiedu of Hedong Province will be less distracted, and Wang Zhongsi can be summoned to the court at the request of Li Heng, so that Wang Zhongsi can take care of the government affairs of the court and the military affairs of the other three towns. This is obviously an excellent idea.

Moreover, Xuanzong was surprised that another main reason for his hesitation to transfer Wang Zhonghei into the court was that he was afraid that Li Linfu would be unhappy in his heart. It seems that he wants to find someone to replace Li Linfu's position, which is a little unreasonable. After all, Li Linfu is just recuperating from a serious illness. But Li Linfu's attitude made Xuanzong feel that he didn't mind at all, didn't think about himself, but actively thought about the court and solved the current problems for himself, which made Xuanzong respect Li Linfu even more.

Xuanzong agreed to Li Linfu's solution almost without hesitation, and that night, An Qingxu left satisfied, the crown prince Li Heng did not say a word, and Yang Guozhong did not say a word, and the matter was resolved.

This is the whole story that Wang Yuan learned from Liu Jun's mouth, and all this was not mentioned in Yang Guozhong's letter. In Yang Guozhong's letter, he just blindly boasted that he grabbed 20,000 soldiers from An Lushan's hands, how difficult it was. His intention was naturally to make Wang Yuan feel his kindness and give up on him, but he didn't know that Wang Yuan sighed after knowing what had happened, and used a sentence of 'stupidity' to describe what he did.