readx; At the end of September, Li Qing'an's 2,000 troops arrived at the capital of the Yue Dynasty, Ashu, which was the name of the Tang people and the locals as Tocharian State, which became the command post of the Tang army after the Battle of Tocharian a few months earlier. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Tang cavalry was silent as they drove slowly on the trade road to the city of Ashu, which was still ten miles away from the city of Ashu, with low hills and dense jungles on both sides.

Li Qing'an was riding on a horse, he was looking up at a few goshawks hovering in the air, he also had a falcon when he was in Jinman County, but after he moved to the broken leaves, his eagle did not follow, and stayed in the Tianshan Mountains, perhaps it was an eagle's nostalgia for his hometown.

Li Qing'an smiled, and his eyes fell on the distant city of Achu, this is the first time he set foot on the hinterland of Tocharo, originally he was going to rush back to Anxi to deal with the crisis in Hexi, but when he arrived at Shi Khan, he received news from Anxi, the crisis in Hexi has fallen in the dust, Anxi lost Gan, Su and 20,000 troops, it should be said that this result is better than he expected, he thought that he could only keep Shazhou, did not expect to be able to keep the army, but in the end, with the efforts of Anxi's subordinates, he finally kept half of the troops.

"Humph! Take me Hexi, does he think that's it? ”

Li Qing'an did not shy away from setbacks, he had written back, taking the responsibility for the Hexi incident on his shoulders, as the commander, he should not be in such a distant place as Xinde, resulting in a power gap in Anxi, this is a mistake in his tactical arrangement, he should let Li Guangbi go to the south to seek Xinde, and he himself fought Tocharian.

Secondly, he underestimated Li Yu's vigilance against himself, and he also knew that he and Li Yu would break up sooner or later, but he didn't expect the break between them to come so quickly, this was his carelessness, he really didn't expect it, otherwise he would definitely arrange the defense of Hexi in advance before the southern expedition.

However, there is one thing Li Qingan can't figure out, why Li Yu suddenly attacked Hexi, it stands to reason that he is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and before an opponent is disposed of, he will attack his apparent ally, which is a kind of political imbecile, from what he knows about Li Yu, he should not make such a low-level mistake, not to mention that he still has Li Yu by his side, and even Li Yu did not dissuade him this time, indicating that there is a reason why Li Yu has to do it to himself.

So what exactly is the reason for this? This made Li Qingan puzzled.

"General, General Li is here!" The shouts of a pro-soldier interrupted Li Qing'an's train of thought.

I saw a team of cavalry running in the distance, the leader was the Tocharian general Li Guangbi, a moment, Li Guangbi rushed forward, he turned over and dismounted, and half knelt to give Li Qing'an a military salute, "The last general Li Guangbi see the general!" ”

Li Qingan hurriedly dismounted, helped him up, and said with a smile: "This battle of Tocharian is thanks to Brother Guangbi." ”

Li Guangbi hurriedly said modestly: "The humble post is just a fluke victory, if there is no Hezhong Army to suppress the eastern aid of the Khorasan Great Food Army, who will die in this war, it is not yet known, the humble post must first ask for credit for the Hezhong Army." ”

Li Qingan nodded, "I will consider the merits of the Hezhong Army, but Brother Guangbi's humility is indeed admirable." ”

"Don't dare! Can't! The general has spoken. ”

At this time, Li Guangbi pointed to a rather obese middle-aged Tocharian man next to him and said, "This is Luo Xian, the new king of the Yue Clan, who heard that the general was coming, so he rushed to meet him. ”

Luo Xian hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to Li Qingan respectfully, "Yue's Nuluo will meet His Royal Highness King Zhao first!" ”

Li Guangbi introduced on the side: "King Luo Xian was originally a general of Tocharo, and led 30,000 troops to join the Tang army, because the old king is dead, I will temporarily appoint him as the new king, and ask the general for approval." ”

"I see!"

Li Qingan smiled and helped him up, "His Royal Highness the King, please get up and lead the army to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, it is enough to see your sincerity, then from now on, I officially agree that you are the new king of the Yue Clan." ”

Luo Xian hurriedly thanked him, and he couldn't help crying: "His Royal Highness King Zhao, the Yue Clan was originally a subject country of the Tang Dynasty, after the eastward expansion of the Great Food, the Tocharian countries repeatedly asked for help from the Tang Dynasty, but the heavenly soldiers did not come, and it was difficult for Tocharian to resist the Great Cannibals, so he had to surrender to him, and now the army of the Heavenly Dynasty has settled in Tocharo, and we are free, we are willing to serve the subjects of the Tang Dynasty and pay taxes every year, and only beg His Royal Highness King Zhao to stay in our homeland, and not let us leave our homeland." ”

Li Qing'an glanced at Li Guangbi, Li Guangbi pointed to the north, and he realized that according to his original order, the resisters moved the whole country to Boxi Mountain as a mineral, so none of the Tocharian powers such as Yueshi, Gaofu, and Wang Ting could escape, and they all had to move away.

Although this is very unrealistic, how can millions of Tocharians move away, it must be a big chaos, and Li Guangbi has not carried it out for the time being, but he has no right to cancel it, and he can only cancel this order when Li Qing'an comes.

Li Qingan didn't reply directly, he said lightly to Luo Xian: "I will discuss this matter with General Li Guangbi, you should avoid it first!" ”

"Yes!"

Luo Xian hurriedly saluted and retreated.

Li Qing'an waited for him to go away, and then said to Li Guangbi: "The lack of miners has always been a constraint in Anxi, although it is unrealistic for the whole people to move to the miners, but Tocharian must give me miners." ”

Li Guangbi had already considered a mature plan, and he hurriedly said: "General, you might as well use the method of hard labor, like the Central Plains, Tocharian men must serve hard labor for two months every year, let them go to mining, and at the same time can extend the time of hard labor to offset the tax, I have specially investigated, Tocharian is willing to use hard labor to offset taxes." ”

Li Qing'an thought for a while, then nodded and responded: "This method is feasible, if a system can be formed, the people of the Liberation State can also be released, and the labor system will also be implemented." ”

After solving this important matter, Li Guangbi's heart suddenly relaxed, and he said with a smile: "The general has worked hard all the way, please go to the city to rest with your humble position." ”

"I'm a little tired and want to get some sleep."

The two talked and laughed and walked towards the city, and on the way, Li Qingan asked, "Is there any movement over there in Khorasan?" ”

"So far, there has been no movement, but it is estimated that the Great Cannibals will never give up, and in half a year, they will inevitably go eastward."

"Why half a year?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"The big cannibals also know us better, without half a year of preparation, they will not easily go east, but once they prepare for half a year, their counterattack will inevitably be a large army overwhelmed, general, we also have to start preparing, so as not to be caught off guard by then."

"You're right, the big cannibal will never give up, and I rushed back this time to prepare for the big eat."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan changed the subject and smiled: "Have you heard about Hexi?" ”

"The humble position has just learned that the imperial court took advantage of the opportunity of the general's absence in Anxi to suddenly attack Hexi, and the opportunity was well grasped, but the humble position believes that the loss of Gansu and Su is not necessarily a bad thing."

"Oh? Tell me, what's the good thing? ”

"At least let us know two traitors in advance, and the general has one more talent."

"I agree with your point of view, the land can be recaptured if it is lost, but talents can not be encountered all the time, Wu Yong makes me feel gratified, this person can indeed be reused, but the matter of Hexi is not over, when I solve the big cannibalism, I will let them not eat and walk around, how to take it, how to give it back to me."

At this time, Li Guangbi suddenly remembered something, and said with a smile: "Speaking of talents, I think of one thing, there is a scribe surnamed Liu, who said that he came to seek refuge in you from Chang'an, and he was thousands of miles away, and he was determined to go to Xinde to find you, but he fell ill in Ashu City. ”

"What insight does he have?"

"He said that the Holy Lord must take action against Hexi, and if you seek Xinde in person and not in Anxi, I am afraid it will be difficult to recover the danger of Hexi."

Li Qingan was stunned and hurriedly asked, "Where is this person?" ”

"This person is in the city of Ashu, he has been recuperating for nearly a month, and he is almost cured, and he said that he will go to Sindh to find you again."

"Bring this man to me!"

After entering the city, Li Qing'an stayed in the Yue's palace, and after a while, Li Guangbi led a person to see Li Qing'an.

Li Qing'an saw that this person was about thirty-four or five years old, perhaps because he had just recovered from a serious illness, and his body looked very thin, so he smiled and said, "I heard that you are going to Xinde to find me?" ”

The man hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "The lower official will see the general of the Jiedu envoy!" ”

Li Qingan was stunned, "Are you an official?" ”

"The next official is the order of the Xishi Changping Administration, but he has resigned from his official position, and he has come to Anxi thousands of miles to find the general of the Jiedu Envoy to ask for a job."

Li Qingan nodded, waved his hand and smiled: "Sir, please take a seat!" ”

The scribe sat down sideways, and Li Qing'an asked again, "May I ask your surname, sir?" ”

Only then did the scribe remember that he had not registered, and hurriedly apologized: "The next surname is Liu Mingyan, the word Shi'an, and the name of Caozhou." ”

"Liu Yan?"

Li Qing'an suddenly remembered that this person seemed to be a famous figure in the Tang Dynasty, and he was famous in history for being good at managing money, but many celebrities in the Tang Dynasty no longer had any meaning to Li Qing'an, he didn't even bother to find Du Fu, Wang Wei and others, the thought only flashed in his mind, and he smiled and said: "I heard General Li say that Mr. can know about Hexi in advance, why is this?" ”

Liu Yan had also heard about the changes in Hexi, he was still a step late, and his eyes couldn't help but be a little gloomy, so he sighed and said: "In fact, the imperial court is full of crises, and there are many external troubles, there are An Lushan wolf ambitions in the north, and there are King Wu, King Jing, King Shu, Neiguan Sheji, and Pillow Ge Yidan, and the people in the court and China think that An Lushan is the most important among all external troubles, and the saint should be the first to remove An Lushan, but I think that the saint must be the first to attack the general, and he will inevitably fight Hexi first." ”

This is exactly the mystery that Li Qing'an couldn't solve, he suddenly lifted his spirits, and hurriedly ordered left and right: "Hurry up and serve tea to Mr." ”

The left and right soldiers served a cup of tea, Liu Yan picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and then said unhurriedly: "The general must be very strange, why the saint is in a hurry to fight Hexi, it is actually the trouble caused by the Anxi silver dollar." ”

'Anzay silver dollar? Li Qing'an was a little puzzled, he imported a large number of silver dollars into the Central Plains, which should be a good thing, just like the influx of a large amount of silver in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which can greatly increase wealth, how can it cause trouble instead? But he didn't ask more, and said, "Sir, please continue!" ”

"The key is that now Zuozang has less than 300,000 copper coins, and now the imperial court is in financial distress, even I, a petty official from Qipin, have been in arrears for two years, and the taxes from Jianghuai, Jingxiang, Bashu, and Hedong, Hebei, and other rich places cannot be transported to Beijing, and the saint is already going crazy in order to raise money..."

"Wait!" Li Qingan interrupted him and said strangely: "Doesn't the imperial court have a ministry of works and a general as a prison?" There are tens of thousands of officials and craftsmen in it, they can fire porcelain, make paper, and sell them to Anxi, and I will give him real silver dollars, so that there will be money? How can it be at a loss? ”

"The general is talking about the old things."

Liu Yan smiled bitterly and said: "Now in addition to the ordnance supervisor and a little official craftsman, where are there other craftsmen, all of them make their own living, even if there are official craftsmen, there is no money to buy raw materials is in vain, originally the local government still has a little inventory of silk and other light goods, but it has long been sold out by Yang Guozhong, and the money and silk in exchange have been squandered by the first emperor, I often go to Zuozang and Guanzhong various official warehouses, all of which are empty, and now the situation in the Tang Dynasty is rich and poor, these people are not ordinary grass people, but the magnates of the major clans, wealthy giants, It is rumored that Mrs. Qiu Guo has a wealth of no less than 10 million, the court is so poor, but the magnates are very rich, and the saint wants money to recruit troops and horses, but there is no money in his hands, what should I do? ”

"Isn't that Emperor Taishang having a grudge against the Yang family? After slaughtering the Yang family, won't the money roll in? Li Qingan said with some disdain.

"Things are not so simple, the holy Cui Guifei is the daughter of Mrs. Han, and Yang Guozhong, the right minister, the saint does not dare to move these magnates easily, and if it really makes trouble, he will give the vassal kings the truth, and they will jointly send troops, and there will be large soldiers outside to press the border, and the powerful inside, and even organize the internal strife of Zhuang Ding, and the court is not strong enough, how to deal with it?"

"So he took me under the knife, but what does this have to do with my Anxi silver dollar?"

"The general didn't know, the fifth Qi in Duzhilang is my friend, he privately revealed to me that the saint got a batch of silver ingots from the first emperor's inner treasury, about 300,000 catties, and the saint is ready to use it to issue silver coins, with a silver content of two copper eight per penny, with one coin to fifty coins, in various places to force the exchange of copper coins, and strictly prohibit private minting of silver coins, this is actually the disguised issuance of large money, so that you can quickly get millions of dollars, for recruitment, this is the fastest and most effective way to deal with the crisis in front of you, but it is the existence of a large number of silver dollars in Anxi, so that the Holy New Money Law could not be implemented. ”

Li Qing'an roughly understood, so he smiled and said: "Those silver ingots of his were still given to the first emperor by me, but I still have some doubts, does my Anxi silver dollar have such a great influence?" ”

"The impact is quite significant!"

Liu Yan sighed and said: "I am the Changping Agency, how can I not know the importance of the Anxi silver dollar, at the beginning, the Anxi silver dollar was mainly collected, the circulation is not large, but then more and more, everywhere appeared, began to circulate in large quantities, and now it has become the first coin of the Tang Dynasty, it is its existence, the silver coin minted by the emperor in the past, was originally a penny when a hundred wen, but now it is only worth five wen on the market, and the vast majority of shops still refuse to accept it, as for the inferior silver coins minted by other people, no one cares, and Chang'an people do not accept rice when they buy rice, Let's ask, in this case, how can the saint's first article be issued as a silver coin of fifty wen? Forced exchange of copper coins will only cause chaos in the world, so the saint must block the inflow of Anxi silver dollars, once the source of Anxi silver dollars is blocked, the new silver coins will quickly expel Anxi silver dollars from the market, does the general understand? This is called bad money driving out good money, and only by controlling Hexi can we block the Anxi silver dollar. ”

"What a frog at the bottom of a well!"

Li Qingan sneered and said: "The world is so big, does he think that if he takes Hexi, he can block my silver dollar?" I can borrow the road to Tibet, I can borrow the road to return to Tibet, and even I can go to sea from Punjab and take the sea route to Guangzhou, can he block it? From his words and deeds in the East Palace, I thought he would be a people-oriented emperor, it seems that after ascending the throne, he is still a raccoon dog, and he does not dare to touch the powerful and powerful, but only dares to take the weak people. ”

Liu Yan sighed in a low voice and said: "I thought the same way, I had high hopes for him, but he was less than half a year on the throne, and he wanted to issue a lot of money in disguise and plunder the wealth of the weak people, which made me extremely disappointed, so I abandoned the lowly official and came to Anxi to serve the general." ”

After speaking, Liu Yan stood up and bowed to the ground, "Minister Liu Yan is willing to serve His Royal Highness King Zhao, and beg His Highness to include it." ”

"Good! Good! Li Qingan readily agreed, "Mr. can be my staff for the time being, and plan Anxi's money and food for me." ”

(To be continued)