"How can you give him the title of staying in Tokyo? Luoyang is the heart of the imperial court, gave him this title, he recruited troops in Luoyang, and if he came to Chang'an, how should it be? ”

When Dou Hua heard the news, he was so angry that he almost dropped the cup, and he hurriedly came to see Yang Guozhong, and he questioned him. Yang Guozhong knew that he didn't get the opportunity to go to Luoyang to try the case, and it was indeed for his own plan, so he was not very annoyed, and said with a smile: "It's just that Luoyang stays behind, and the imperial court can solve it with an edict." Although Ye Chang is domineering, he has no heart to rebel......"

"Yang Gongxiu wants to prevaricate with such words, Ye Chang has no intention of rebelling, but Qingjun's heart is there" Dou Hua said impatiently: "Yang Gong only told the truth, what are the plans, if Yang Gong is really so confused, he will not dare to serve on the side anymore, so he can only tell the saint to retire"

Yang Guozhong grinned and hesitated for a while, the matter is very important, can you tell Dou Hua?

After thinking about it, he finally decided to say: "Don't worry, Duke Dou, if Ye Chang dares to clear the monarch's side, it will be exactly what I want." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Dou Hua was taken aback.

"An Lushan."

Dou Hua was shocked when he heard this: "Yang Gong, absolutely not, absolutely not, if this is the case, then Gyeonggi will turn into a sea of blood, and all the people will become powder, although Ye Chang is cunning, but he still has a heart of love for the people and compassion for the people, An Lushan, Zahu Ye, cruel and easy to kill, act without scruples, if he is allowed to enter the Central Plains, the Central Plains will be in chaos"

Where can Yang Guozhong manage so much, all his thoughts now are to suppress Ye Chang through An Lushan, and it would be better if Li Heng was easily solved. In his opinion, An Lushan is just a side general, and his disaster is much smaller than Ye Chang's.

Therefore, he shook his head and said: "Duke Dou doesn't know, if Cheng Qianli can break the thieves, then he doesn't need to use An Lushan, but if Cheng Qianli is defeated, Ye Chang's temporary recruitment of some troops can protect Luoyang, how can he defend the Jingshi?" At that time, it is still necessary to transfer troops to the king, rather than this, it is better to make some preparations in advance. If I am not fully prepared, how can I dare to act in this way? ”

Dou Hua heard this, and then he understood that letting Ye Chang lead the troops was also a forced choice.

"The situation in the Central Plains, how come it is?" He asked in a trembling voice.

Yang Guozhong was silent for a while, and then nodded slowly: "You must not spread this matter, if there is a little rumor outside, you know the consequences." ”

After the incident of Yuan Chao and others, Yang Guozhong gave everyone the impression that he was calm and calm, and when he saw Li Longji explain the matter, he said that "the grandchildren of His Majesty are naughty boys, dancing bamboo, guns and wooden knives on the banks of the rivers and lakes, and one or two good generals can appease them." When he commented on this matter with his colleagues and officials, he said that "some people gather to make trouble, and there is no need to make a fuss." But in fact, the traitors in the three places rose up at the same time, which made Yang Guozhong unprecedentedly nervous.

At first, he thought that this was something provoked by Ye Chang, these thieves did not rebel sooner or later, but they only set off a rebellion after Ye Chang returned to Luoyang, obviously forcing the imperial court to appoint Ye Chang with military power. But he immediately denied this idea: Ye Chang's return to Luoyang was simply the product of Li Longji's dizziness, Mo said that Ye Chang didn't expect it in advance, that is, Li Longji himself was afraid that he was unprepared in advance, how could Ye Chang make an appointment with those traitors?

He sent his cronies to collect information from all parties and carefully study and judge, and then realized that in the past few years, in order to compete with Ye Chang for the identity of Datang as a financial expert, some of the policies he implemented have actually made the burden on the people reach the limit. As long as there is the slightest famine or disease, the people have to sell their sons and daughters.

Not only the two provinces of Jiangnan and Huainan, but also the two provinces of Gyeonggi and Henan, are also the people who are trapped and the people are full of complaints, as long as there is a spark, it will ignite a monstrous flame.

This made Yang Guozhong have to be cautious, and let Ye Chang stay in Luoyang, not really to suppress the civil unrest, but actually to prepare a scapegoat for him. If Cheng Qianli with tens of thousands of forbidden troops and regimental training troops can't defeat the thieves, what can Ye Chang do with those people and horses temporarily recruited in Luoyang?

"Ye Gong, with only these horses, I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed"

Also thinking about Yang Zhao was Liu Changqing, who stood in front of the school field outside Luoyang City, looked at these "soldiers" in front of him, and couldn't help but say to Ye Chang.

Although his response that day was not quite in line with Ye Chang's intentions, Ye Chang was now the time to employ people, and there was a lack of staff around him who could communicate with the court and local documents, so Ye Chang still tucked him by his side for the time being. Liu Changqing also knows his shortcomings, and it is okay to live in one place as a civilian official, but with his physical condition, it is impossible to really go to war with the army, so in terms of military affairs, he basically does not intervene.

But when he saw these newly recruited soldiers today, he couldn't help but say.

Don't blame him, these soldiers are really ugly, although they are young and strong, they are not full of oily faces, or they have tattoos on their bodies, and they don't look like good people at first glance.

Li Cheng's face on the side was also uncertain, he was originally left behind in the Eastern Capital, but now because of the public commotion, he was dismissed and changed to Luoyang Order, and he was also responsible for cooperating with Ye Chang to recruit people and raise military funds. All kinds of tedious things in the meantime are his responsibility.

Ye Chang nodded: "What about the children of the good family, these people are not useful, are there any children of the good family who are willing to make meritorious contributions?" ”

"In Luoyang City, only such characters can be recruited." Li Cheng said angrily: "Children of good families, if you have a little ambition, you have already joined the army and gone to the border, where will you stay in Luoyang?" These people are just some rogue rangers, they are brave, but they can't talk about military discipline."

"There are enough military resources in the city, what is the condition of the armor in the arsenal?" Ye Chang asked again.

Seeing that Ye Chang was not entangled in the matter of chasing the source of soldiers, Li Cheng was a little relieved: "The military resources and armor are sufficient, and this is also thanks to Ye Gong, in the past two years, the court and China have advocated enriching the arsenal, and only Ye Gong is the only one."

Since Li Longji ascended the throne, the Tang Dynasty has been peaceful for decades, and there has been almost no war in the mainland, so the armament is very slack. Most of the armor in the arsenals everywhere was moth-eaten and rusty, and even the gun handle and bow body were rotten and rotten, and they were simply unusable. Since the eleventh year of Tianbao, Ye Chang has written to Li Longji one after another, requesting that the moldy armor everywhere be disposed of and replaced with new armor. Li Longji handed over the matter to Yang Guozhong, and Yang Guozhong saw an opportunity to make money from his hands, so he also agreed to this matter - although Yang Guozhong and Ye Chang did not have a good relationship, this did not prevent them from making a fortune together.

As a result, the armor in the arsenals of various parts of the Tang Dynasty was melted into iron and sold to the Liaodong Iron and Steel Workshop, where it was then quenched into steel, and then the armor was transported to the arsenals in various places. In this process, all the money from the sale of scrap iron went to ordinary corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and the money for the re-purchase of armor needed to be taken out of the treasury, and Yang Guozhong and Ye Chang both made a lot of profits.

Although the national arsenal has not been completely replaced because the implementation time has not been very long, most of the arsenals of Chang'an and Luoyang have been replaced. Li Cheng reported to Ye Chang that there were 6,000 iron armors in Luoyang's arsenal, and weapons could arm 50,000 people.

"How's the food?" Ye Chang asked again.

"Henan Province has been a natural disaster for three consecutive years, or water or drought, so there is not much grain storage, and Gyeonggi Province is similar, before Chang'an transferred 200,000 stone of grain from Luoyang, and now the grain is only about 600,000 stone." Speaking of this, Li Cheng's face was very worried: "There is not much grain in the people, originally relied on Huainan Road to transfer grain, but now the Huainan military incident, we must first support the army of the Cheng Branch, and the rebels block the canal, I am afraid that it will be difficult to transport the grain." ”

Ye Chang's brows suddenly locked tightly.

This is a big problem, and even if he has all kinds of plans, he must first solve the food problem.

In recent years, due to the promotion of cotton and other cash crops, the grain output of Henan Province and Gyeonggi Province has plummeted, and it is far from being self-sufficient, and it mainly relies on transportation and supplies in Huainan Province. It is precisely for this reason that the role of the rut track is particularly obvious in the winter when there is a shortage of grain and the Yellow River may freeze. But now that thieves are everywhere, Huainan Road will become the main battlefield, and grain in the Central Plains is a serious problem.

Moreover, the disaster of this production for three consecutive years has completely depleted the originally small grain stockpile...... 600,000 stones, Luoyang alone has a population of hundreds of thousands, how long can it last?

"The rut is key." After pondering for a while, Ye Chang said: "Liaodong can also transfer some grain...... However, Liaodong is also at war now, and there is not much grain in stock...... Originally, I could have gone to Silla to buy some grain, but now I can't buy it. It's okay, it's okay, I'll write a letter to Liaodong and ask them to change their strategy, defeat Silla first, and force the Silla people to pay for food."

"This ...... It's freezing cold, isn't it? ”

"It's okay, let's transfer 200,000 stone grain from Liaodong first, plus the grain stockpile, and last until the end of this year...... As for the hungry people in the suburbs, they were moved to Liaodong and Hebei to eat. Ye Chang's eyes fell: "This matter can't be done in Luoyang alone, and the entire Henan Road must be moved." ”

"In the coming year, whether it is the transfer of grain in Liaodong or the relocation of people to eat, they can only deal with it for a while, and the real trouble is in March of next year, if the war cannot be calmed down in March of the next year, it will be a time ......when the green and yellow are not connected," Li Cheng said here, his voice trembling a little.

Now that the autumn harvest is short, the people still have some grain in their hands, so the famine will not break out in full force. But it will not be until March of the following year that the famine will break out in full force, and at that time, it will not be a matter of tens of thousands of victims, but millions of people waiting to be fed

"There are still five months to go, as long as the thieves can be quelled, the people will go to Jiangnan to eat, go to Shu to eat, and Yunnan to eat"

"After all, far water can't quench the thirst of the near......"

Ye Chang glanced at him, smiled, and made no sound.

This look was very weird, which made Li Cheng stunned for a moment: "What does Ye Gong mean by this?" ”

"It's not interesting." Ye Chang said lightly.

Li Cheng's heart sank, and he suddenly remembered something, it was rumored that Ye Chang went to Liaodong this time and separated from Li Linfu's daughter, and he is now alone...... The lady of the Li family is as beautiful as a fairy, but Ye Chang is still separated from her, could it be that he has the legacy of the Northern Dynasty, and he likes men and not women?

Li Cheng is a beautiful man, thinking of this, he only felt that his body was a little stiff, and he quietly moved a few steps away from Ye Chang.

Ye Chang didn't pay attention to his thoughts. The reason why Ye Chang laughed was actually because he secretly praised himself for being prescient.

A major event that he has been planning since the beginning of his eight years of Tianbao has been six years now.

He has always been very clear that population is China's greatest advantage, and in this era when there is still room for space, China must explode its population, promote expansion with population, and occupy all available land first. But the two major factors restricting population growth are food and medical care, which can be solved through health education, and food must be brought in high-yield crops. He did not expect to obtain corn and potatoes from the Americas, so he set his sights on the Champhara state south of Annam, from which he attracted Champhara rice and vigorously promoted it in Yunnan and Lingnan.

Because the Han people in Yunnan are still mainly concentrated in the two plains of Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake, the grain production is limited, and the transportation is not very convenient. But Lingnan is different, the number of Han people in Lingnan has increased dramatically in recent years, many plains have been opened up, and Champharata rice is very suitable for the climate here, coupled with the remoteness of the terrain, Yang Guozhong's evil government has not yet arrived, so from the 12th year of Tianbao, Lingnan grain harvest year after year, the amount of grain stored is not a lot.

In order to prevent rice from hurting the peasants, in the past few years, Liaodong sea ships went south, or southern sea ships went north to Liaodong to buy goods, and Ye Chang asked them to load grain from Lingnan to the north. In three years, 800,000 stone grains were hoarded in Lushun and Dongmu. More than 300,000 stones were stored in the warehouse outside the Mou Wharf in the Middle East. These grains were used by Ye Chang as strategic reserve grains, and they were not used in leisure, but now it seems that they can be used.

"Actually, it's not necessarily without food." Liu Changqing said again.

"Where's the food?"

"As far as I know, Chang'an and Luoyang have private warehouses in addition to official warehouses, and now the price of grain is expensive, which is caused by the hoarding of rice in private warehouses, otherwise it has just been harvested in autumn, where is this?"

Everyone knows about this matter, but no one wants to expose it. Those who dare to hoard rice at such a time must be powerful behind them.

Ye Chang didn't want to dwell on this matter at the moment, he looked at those lazy soldiers again, and the corners of his mouth sneered: "These people are ...... in the city."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw a horse galloping from the city, and the knight came to him, turned over and dismounted, and knelt down on one knee: "Huainan Province Emergency Military Situation"

Ye Chang's heart sank: "Say." ”

"Dr. Cheng and the thieves fought in Lujiang County, the three bands of thieves joined forces, and their momentum was very great, and Dr. Cheng asked the court for help

Cheng Qianli is a general, who has been in Beiting and Anxi for many years, but only at the beginning of this year, he was promoted to the center and replaced by Li Siye - Ye Chang originally wanted Nan Jiyun to replace him, but Nan Jiyun's time in Anxi is still short, and there has been no big battle in recent years, which is not enough to serve the public, so Nan Jiyun only became the deputy envoy of Beiting Jiedu. Cheng Qianli was a man who was serious and stable, and he asked the court for help, thinking that the tens of thousands of soldiers he brought were not enough.

"How many thieves are there?" Ye Chang frowned and asked.

"There are 400,000 of the three thieves combined"

Li Cheng, Liu Changqing and others next to "400,000" were all pale and shocked. Only Ye Chang could still maintain his composure at this time.