Li Siye also thought about getting rid of Yang Guozhong in advance, but after careful consideration, he finally rejected this idea. An Lushan's intention to rebel is already a foregone conclusion, and even if Yang Guozhong suddenly dies, it will not change the result. Besides, it is impossible to do this kind of thing without leaving clues, if you don't succeed in the blame, you will expose yourself, not only stand on the opposite side of the imperial court, but let Youyan's An Lushan find an opportunity.

Yang Guozhong sent people to monitor the Hexi Jinju Academy, and Cao Anding could no longer move freely, so he was going to secretly buy 200 sets of generals' armor and 3,000 sets of infantry armor from the Beidu Military Weapons Supervisor under the Shaofu Supervisor within this year. A large part of these armors are traded in the form of daily wear and tear replacement, and there are elements of favoritism and fraud in legal official documents, and the other part is completely secretly bought and sold through gray channels.

Now only Li Siye has the ability to spend a lot of money to buy these things, he was originally going to complete two things within this year, the first is to integrate the existing cavalry of the various armies in Hexi, and then buy horses from the northern ethnic minorities such as the Longyou Stable Pastoral Bureau and the Hui Hui, train the soldiers to increase the quota, and form an iron cavalry of 30,000 people, and the second is to recruit and expand more than 5,000 people to form an artillery battalion, and the total strength of Hexi will reach 90,000 at that time, so that he has greater confidence to defeat An Lushan in one fell swoop in the next war.

However, the expansion of troops must always have the most basic protection, whether it is Hexi, Anxi, Beiting, or Tocharian in Hezhong, and even the army stationed in India has a fixed number of troops in the DPRK. If he wants to expand his army quietly, he naturally can't bypass the armor level. Now Cao Anding is unable to move, and the road to secretly buy armor from Chang'an is interrupted.

Li Siye also planned to establish a Jiafang Department in Hexi, but armor-making is different from making ordinary knives, and even more technical personnel are needed than bow-making and lance-making.

There are a large number of armor-making craftsmen under the military supervision of the imperial court's young government supervisor, and their ancestors have been doing this for generations, enjoying a special craftsman status and receiving the imperial court's salary. This is not only an iron rice bowl, but no headhunter dares to poach people from here. Even the Japanese sent Tang envoys to Chang'an several times, hoping to send someone to be an apprentice in the Ordnance Supervision and Armor Bureau, but they were refused. They were given only a few samples of armor to bring to Japan.

Armor is a weapon tightly controlled by the imperial court, and the control is far tighter than that of a bow and crossbow, and private hiding armor is an accomplice. Zhou Yafu built 500 armor to accompany the funeral, which was considered a rebellion by Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty. The only thing that can enjoy the same treatment as armor is the big killer like the Mo knife.

At this juncture, Li Siye did not want to be suspected by the imperial court, but also wanted to make a batch of sturdy and durable armor for the expansion of the army, which really made him scratch his scalp.

He suddenly thought of the cotton armor that arose in the Ming Dynasty? Lined with sheet iron, jacketed with cotton felt? The protection of firearms is better than iron armor, and the protection of cold weapons is better than leather armor? Can you keep warm? It is also not limited by the form. For him now, is it a substitute between iron armor and leather armor? Enough for infantry and artillery battalions. And in case one day the artillery is blown up. Cotton armor also has a good protective effect on fragments.

Nowadays, a large part of the cotton fields in the Anxi military tun are also piled up in the warehouses of various towns? The people of the Transoxiana region like to weave carpets out of cotton and animal furs? These can be requisitioned in large quantities. And it's March, so it's too late to expand cotton planting.

Moreover, there are piles of old ledgers and discarded paper in Anxi, Hexi, and they can also be collected and made into paper armor, which is not even less robust than iron armor.

This is his last effort to expand the army in this special year of Tianbao's 14th year? Originally, he still planned to be in Tuntian, Hexi? and the operation of India as a grain and cotton production base for the supply of Anxi, Beiting and Hexi. In order to completely cut off Longyou's rigid demand for materials in the Central Plains. But for now, everything has to give way to the impending war.

……

The emperor realized that Yang Guozhong's behavior was too dangerous, and he was undoubtedly forcing An Lushan to rebel quickly, so he immediately called Yang Guozhong to the palace and reprimanded him, asking him to stop all kinds of actions against An Lushan? The soldiers of Jingzhao Mansion who occupied An Lushan's mansion were withdrawn, and An's guest secretary, who was originally imprisoned, was also released. Oh? I've already killed it, so that's all there is to it.

Although Yang Guozhong is stupid? But loyal enough, the old emperor only has such a small requirement for his courtiers.

His great favor for the Yang family continues? Treat Yang Yuhuan as a real husband and wife? also regarded her maiden family as a real national relative. None of the immediate family members of the Yang family are lower than the third-rank officials? Yang Guozhong has become a living commonplace. The three wives of the Yang family are rewarded with millions of fat powder money every year, and every time the emperor goes on a safari, the Yang family's team is the most prosperous. The Yang brothers and sisters went on a trip on the night of the Yuan Dynasty, and the evil servants of the Yang family were able to whip the princess off the horse, and the emperor's handling result was only to hit fifty boards each.

Even if the crisis of the Tang Dynasty is imminent, he still holds the Yang family in his hands as a treasure, and the Hongnong Yang family has never received such attention and favor in the hundred years of Li Tang.

Li Longji began to wipe Yang Guozhong's buttocks, and personally wrote a letter of relief to An Lushan, and said in the letter that he had decided to marry An Qingzong and the lord of Rongyi in June, and invited his father-in-law to Chang'an to watch the ceremony and see his daughter-in-law.

But An Lushan was already nervous at this time, and he would not go to any excuse to invite him, and to deal with these summons of the emperor, there was no need to ask, and if he asked, he was seriously ill.

Maybe An Lushan really got seriously ill later, because he kept cursing himself to get sick, and God really fulfilled his wish.

In July, An Lushan presented to the emperor, saying that he was going to Chang'an to offer more than 3,000 horses. Each horse he sent had two soldiers as the controller, and more than twenty generals commanded the escort. There are more than 6,000 people involved in the escort of 3,000 horses, and after these people escort the horses into Guanzhong, will they be placed by An Lushan as an internal line to respond to the rebellion.

Henan Yin Da Xi Xun noticed that An Lushan's actions had ulterior motives, so he asked the emperor to ask An Lushan to move the horse sacrifice to winter, and asked the court to send his own husband, so as not to bother An Lushan to send people.

The emperor also woke up to An Lushan's strange behavior, and finally began to suspect that he had a rebellion, but at this time An Lushan was already very difficult to control, and the least costly and most economical way to deal with it was to lure him into Beijing, but how difficult it was.

In August, Li Longji sent the Chinese envoy Feng Shenwei to Fanyang Youzhou to preach his condolences, and wrote on the edict: I am the new Wentang House in the Huaqing Palace, and the Qing can enter the court in October to accompany him. ”

After Feng Shenwei arrived in Youzhou, he read the edict in front of An Lushan's bed, An Lushan pretended to be sick with a wet towel on his forehead, neither looked down nor worshipped, but just asked if the emperor was okay, and said: "If the horse is not offered, forget it, please go back and tell Your Majesty that Lushan will go to Beijing to accompany Your Majesty in October when Lushan is well healthy." ”

"Come on, send the holy envoy back to the post house, and tomorrow Yan Zhuang will personally send the holy envoy to leave Youzhou and return to the dynasty on my behalf."

As soon as Feng Shenwei left, An Lushan immediately took off the towel on his forehead and jumped off the bed with a red face. He said to the noble man who was standing aside: "The saint has frequently sent envoys to invite me to the court, and it seems that he has become suspicious of me, and I seem to have no choice. It's just that Li Siye is on the right side of Long, so that I am always like a man's back and a fish in my throat. I have Youyan Iron Riding Ten Thousand Horses, straight down to the Central Plains, and no one can stop me from entering the customs. But Xiliang, Anxi, and Beiting all have strong light cavalry, once he was ordered by the emperor to enter the customs to quell the rebellion, how can our army be controlled? ”

Gao Shang held a feather fan in his hand and said confidently: "A certain has already thought of a plan for the lord, which is enough to solve the threat of Xiliang Li Siye. ”