Li Hongzhang was observing Liu Mang, and Liu Mang also sensed his nervousness. At the same time, Liu Mang also realized a problem: the historical figures he summoned have maintained the mark of the times in his previous life in many aspects.

Then, Li Hongzhang, who grew up in the Manchu Qing Dynasty's environment where the boundaries between masters and slaves were clearly defined, will naturally carry the mark of being a slave of the Manchu emperor.

Thinking of this, Liu Mang didn't care much about Li Hongzhang's sycophancy.

"Hongzhang, if you sit in my position, how are you going to continue to develop after pacifying Taiyuan and joining the party?

"Ahh The subordinate small officials, and there is no young master Bo Rui's talent, how dare they go beyond their duties, and think wildly...... "Li Hongzhang only wanted to eliminate the bad influence in Fang Cai's words as soon as possible, so that the young master Liu Mang could forget the excessive sycophant as soon as possible, but he didn't realize it, and presented a new sycophant.

Liu Mang smiled. He understood that Li Hongzhang's praising of his master and patting on the back had become his subconscious instinct, and he didn't do it on purpose, so he cared about it anymore. "Don't be modest, I know you have talent, so I asked you, let's talk about it."

With the lesson of Fang Cai, Li Hongzhang became more cautious, and re-examined and paid more attention to this young master. But subconsciously, the pursuit of politics eventually swayed him.

It's just that, speaking again, he chose a more direct way of expression.

"The subordinates think that the first three things in the matter of merging states are to support the people, trade, and diplomacy."

"Oh?"

Now is the era of agriculture first, and Li Hongzhang's "first three things" are not mentioned, so Liu Mang is more interested.

"Tell me more."

Li Hongzhang heard the encouragement from Liu Mang's words, and the self-confidence that had just been hit picked up again and talked eloquently.

Trying to compete for hegemony is inseparable from the people and soldiers. What the state lacks most is population. Therefore, increasing the population of the state, that is, the so-called supporting the people, was listed as the first priority by Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang summed up two points in the strategy of supporting the people: reducing taxes and leniency of sentences.

The purpose of these two strategies is to attract displaced people to settle in the state. The reduction of endowment has been considered by Liu Mang; However, leniency is not to arbitrarily liberalize the law and abandon the legal system, but to distinguish between the severity and the severe, and to treat them separately, which requires stricter and more accurate law enforcement, which requires more professional and fair law enforcement personnel.

Li Hongzhang is indeed insightful. Hongzhang continued.

Reducing taxes is a measure to support the people, but it will also seriously affect local tax revenue. The solution is trade. Open up ideas, abandon the concept of Han respect and inferiority, agriculture and business, open up trade routes, and open up financial resources.

And making friends with the princes and avoiding falling into the quagmire of war is the guarantee of supporting the people and trade.

"After the integration and merger of the state, Jizhou Yuan Shao will definitely not give up, how does Hongzhang think to deal with it?"

Li Hongzhang was a little hesitant. He knew that the young master Liu Mang was at odds with Yuan Shao, but he still did not advocate having trouble with Yuan Shao in the near future. "Most of the salt used in the state comes from the Bohai Sea. Once he has a bad relationship with Yuan Benchu, he will cut off my salt road, and the state will be in trouble. ”

Liu Mang nodded.

Although Li Hongzhang advocates befriending Yuan Shao, which is completely opposite to Liu Mang's idea, what Li Hongzhang said also has a lot of merit.

Salt Road is indeed a powerful means for Yuan Shao to contain and annex the state, and it must be solved. Liu Mang, Liu Bowen, and Changsun Wuji have also discussed ways to deal with it, but they can't do it, so they can only increase the export of pig iron in exchange for salt.

In this way, it is necessary to further improve the efficiency of the iron industry.

Liu Mang already had a plan, and when the general trend of the state was initially decided, he would let Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, be responsible for the iron ore and military industry in the state, and lead the road of strengthening the country with industry.

……

The two talked, and time passed quickly.

It's just that it's about to come to the end of the day, why hasn't the time come back yet?

The safety of the time shifted made Liu Mang's heart hang again......

"Young master!"

The soldiers sent to meet Shi Qian finally ran back.

Liu Mang hurriedly ran out of the barracks and greeted him.

Time passed, the stench was exuding all over his body, and he was carried by the soldiers and staggered over.

"Qian'er, what's wrong with you? Is it hurt? ”

"Uh...... Gurgle, cluck...... Task...... Gurgle, cluck...... Finish...... No injuries...... Gurgle, cluck...... Drain...... Gurgle, cluck...... Tube...... It's so cold......"

Liu Mang ripped off his big hug, wrapped Shi Qian, and gave him a big bear hug.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shi Qian entered and exited Yuci City through the drainage pipe, and his lips were purple from the cold, and he was so shivering that he couldn't say a whole sentence.

Although Shi Qian returned safely, he suffered such a big crime, and Liu Mang felt even more wronged by him.

And Shi Qian only cared about shivering, and the two of them didn't care about Shi Qian's foul smell.

Li Hongzhang really couldn't stand it. "Young master, let's let Brother Shi go back and wash and change his clothes first."

"Yes, yes, go back quickly and make a bowl of hot soup for Brother Qian'er."

Time has passed, but it is due diligence. "Don't ...... Gurgle, cluck...... After the report...... Gurgle, cluck...... Again...... Time ...... Gurgle, cluck...... Fulfilling the ...... mission"

Although the drain pipe is cold and foul-smelling, it is a wonderful passage in and out of Yuci City. Shi Qian drilled into Yuci City and found a trick.

Seeing the stinking mud monkey-like time shift, he almost slashed him with a knife.

When the time moves to explain the intention, I will see the letter, but I will still be suspicious.

Shi Qian said that he finally had some faith and agreed to open the door to the city, but the premise was to see Li Hongzhang and confirm the authenticity.

At noon, Li Hongzhang will appear outside the west gate of Yuci, and at that time, he will appear in the city.

As long as Li Hongzhang's identity is confirmed, tonight or tomorrow night, after the end of the day, the lantern on the east gate will be swayed three times, and the east gate of Yuci will be opened to welcome the Yanmen army into the city.

The recruit is only the lieutenant of Yuci County, and there are only a few soldiers under him. In Yuci City, most of them are family soldiers, all of whom are under the orders of the county. He could only look for an opportunity to open the door and dedicate the city, and set one of the two nights, which was really helpless.

The request is not too much, but in this case, the time for the destruction of the city may be postponed until the middle of tomorrow, that is, the middle of August 23.

After the city is broken, it is necessary to clear the remnants, pacify the people, and rectify the order......

In other words, the army could not leave Yuci until August 25 to support Qi County, two days later than originally planned.

Two days is nothing in normal times, but now it is very important. If it is delayed for two days, Qi County may be conquered by Zhang Yang's troops, and it will also affect the defense of Yu County.

That's not all.

What if he didn't plan to sacrifice the city at all?

If you wait for two days, you will fall for someone's delaying tactics, which will affect the overall situation of Taiyuan Raiders!

And if you don't believe in the trick, you can only attack Yuci. Although the Yanmen army was well-trained, it had never fought a fortified battle, and its strength was not enough to ensure a quick capture of Yuci.

Even if Yuci is conquered, it is inevitable that the loss of troops will be defeated, which will also affect the tactical deployment of Qi County and Yu County.

Yuci's unexpected situation put Liu Mang in a dilemma, and also cast a shadow on the smooth implementation of the Taiyuan strategy......