At the end of March, Emperor Li Siyuan thought that the records of the four dynasties of Tang Xuanzong, Yizong, Xizong, and Zhaozong had not yet been compiled, and he was ready to purchase classics in various places, but the north was extinct due to years of war, and the books were extinct, and he did not contribute for a long time. Then the book was collected in Jiangnan, and the edict was issued in Liangzhejiang, Fujian, and Huguang to interview the history of the four dynasties and the calendar of the Sui Dynasty, Yintai matters, internal and external words, and the history of the hundred divisions.

Li Siyuan asked the envoys of the assassins, taishou, and jiedu from all over the country to respond positively and obtain the collection from Jiangnan to pay tribute to the imperial court.

Dengzhou Mansion.

Li Congyan was looking at a map of the south of the Yangtze River, which clearly marked all the forces in the south of the Yangtze River. Next to them, Wu Conghan, Li Wei, Li Ren, and Wang Zuhe were talking about something in a whisper.

"Lord, since the saint has an edict this time, the shogunate can just send people to the south to visit Jiangnan talents on the grounds of collecting collections and paying tribute to the imperial court!"

Wu Conghan said excitedly: "Jiangnan Wensheng, and the peace for a long time, the number of talents is far better than the north, the Lord should send capable people to the south, and recruit all kinds of talents with heavy money!" ”

Li Congyan nodded, in fact, after receiving Li Siyuan's edict, he had already made up his mind, and this time he brought everyone here to discuss the formation of a recruitment team.

Li Wei stood up and reminded everyone, saying: "Although Jiangnan is prosperous, but now there are many forces in Jiangnan, Wu, Wu Yue, Nanping, Chu, Fujian, and Southern Han go their own way, although this time going south is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but we must also be cautious." ”

Li Congyan agreed, beckoned everyone to sit down, and said: "Wu and Wu Yue are the closest to us, my opinion, the scope of this southward movement is only limited to Wu and Wu Yue, and the rest of the separatist forces are temporarily abandoned to avoid unnecessary trouble!" ”

Wu Conghan and Li Wei took the order, but Li Ren said: "Is the Lord worried about acting too high-profile? ”

Li Congyan neither denied nor affirmed, but said: "Now the situation in Dengzhou is still too small, and this time we only need to recruit some continuing talents, especially those who are proficient in business affairs and hundreds of workers." As for the kind of talents who have helped the world, or who are proficient in military affairs, as long as they are lucky. ”

Li Congyan naturally wants to recruit all talents at once, just like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao can recruit world-famous talents in just one place, and the talents under his command will also recommend each other, one pull two, two pull three. But how can there be such a good thing in reality? It's just a deduction.

Wu Conghan, Li Wei, Li Ren, and Wang Zuhe agreed, and then Li Congyan said: "This time to the south, recruiting talents is only one of them, and there is another important thing to do, that is, to take the opportunity to contact the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River to prepare for the opening of the trade route to the south." ”

Wu Conghan said with a smile: "Jiangnan is rich, those families in Jiangnan are also extremely luxurious, the Lord has taken this step well, our sea salt and glass, carriages, horse lamps and other things will definitely be popular in Jiangnan!" ”

"Then what do you suggest to Conghan?"

"The subordinates think that the recruitment team formed by the lord should be composed of personnel from the Assessment Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Industrial Department, and the Recruitment Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and they can also bring some reliable businessmen with them."

"Haha!"

Li Congyan laughed and said, "Conghan and I want to go together, so let's do it!" But I'd like to add a few more people to that. ”

After speaking, Li Congyan took out a prepared order, handed it to Wu Conghan, and said, "You read it out!" ”

"Whoa!"

Wu Conghan opened this order and said loudly: "The members of the recruitment team are as follows: Cheng Xu Mingzhi, Director of the Assessment Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cheng Li Sisheng, Director of the Industrial Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cheng Xue Mingtuan, Director of the Recruitment Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, Cheng Guogan, Director of the R&D Department, and Cheng Sun Yi, Director of the Military Medical Department. In addition to the division, each department needs to transfer a number of capable personnel. After going south, each division is a team, and each division is the captain of each team, and each does its own thing. ”

In addition, the Li family of Penglai and the Chen family of Huangxian County were the mainstay, and the representatives of the 31 families of Dengzhou merchants accompanied them, and the first regiment of the left battalion of the new army was recruited as an escort, and various teams were assigned to accompany them in disguise. On the first day of the first month of April, the brigades were recruited to go south to Wudi. ”

A few people didn't expect Li Congyan's handwriting to be so big, nearly half of the Si Cheng of the shogunate were among them, and a large number of businessmen accompanied him.

In addition, Li Congyan also specially transferred the first regiment of the left battalion as an escort, you must know that the captain of the first regiment of the left battalion is Li Siye, everyone can see Li Congyan's thoughts, and know that Li Congyan is bound to win this time.

However, Li Wei was still a little worried, and said: "Lord, although there is a sage's edict to go south this time, the forces of all parties in Jiangnan will not be too difficult for us, but after all, we are out of Dengzhou, so many high-level shogunate officials go south together, will the risk be too great?" ”

Li Congyan said: "There will be some risks, but with the escort of the new army, it is not a big problem. In addition, this time to the south, the recruitment brigade is also to act separately, the assessment department to search for all kinds of management talents, the industrial department will contact the southern businessmen with the businessmen, open up the trade routes, the military recruitment department to search for military talents, the research and development department to search for hundreds of skilled craftsmen, the military medical department to visit the Jiangnan famous doctors, famous prescriptions. Everyone has a different division of labor, so they naturally have to do their own thing, and when the goal is small, the risk will naturally be shared. ”

Speaking of this, Li Congyan looked at everyone and said: "This time I went south, focusing on the R&D Department, the Military Medical Department, and the Industrial Department, supplemented by the Assessment Department and the Conscription Department. The Ministry of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Affairs must inform all departments that they must clearly prioritize and must not put the cart before the horse! ”

"Whoa!"

Although Li Congyan has decided to focus on industrial and commercial talents, he will not refuse to come to the rest of the talents, so all departments must be dispatched.

In addition, Li Congyan also ordered Wu Conghan to allocate some money and grain, which was specially used for this talent recruitment.

"You must remember that the recruitment of all the secretaries and secretaries in the south this time has a certain authority: as long as it is an available person, the secretaries and secretaries can completely decide on their salaries, positions, salaries and other matters. As long as it's not too much, I will recognize it after I return to Dengzhou! ”

"Whoa!"

Then, Li Congyan said to Li Sisheng: "There is one more thing: all the workshops and mines under the Industrial Department must be prepared from now on, mobilize manpower, arrange affairs, and so on. Once the trade route to the south is opened, all the workshops and mines under the Industrial Department will go south to open branch factories and sell commercial goods to the south. ”

Li Sisheng crossed his hand to receive the order.

After all the deployments were completed, Li Congyan said with a smile: "Okay, I won't leave you to eat today, you will start to deploy the recruitment team immediately after you go back, there are not a few days left before the first day of the fourth month, and the preparations must be completed as soon as possible." ”

"Whoa!"

That night, after Li Wei was busy with his work at the Ministry of Military Affairs, he returned home in a horse-drawn carriage. Since the new carriages were sold, Li Congyan ordered a batch to be purchased in the name of the shogunate, and equipped one for each of the officials above the shogunate and the generals above the rank of Guoyi of the new army, so as to facilitate everyone's travel.

At this time, Dengzhou was prosperous, and Li Congyan had already lifted the curfew at the beginning of the year, allowing the merchants in one city and four counties in Dengzhou to operate day and night. So at this time, although it is already night, the lights in Dengzhou City are still bright, and the streets and alleys are full of lively scenes.

Li Wei's residence was in the west of the city, and the carriage crossed the street and turned into an alley, and after walking for a while, he reached the vicinity of his residence.

Suddenly, the horses in the car seemed to sense something at the entrance of the alley, and suddenly neighed in fright, and no matter how much the driver drove them, they did not take a single step.

Li Wei lifted the curtain and poked his head out, subconsciously held the handle of the horizontal knife next to him with his right hand, and asked, "What's the situation?" ”

"Qiyu family master, this old horse doesn't know what's wrong, no matter how much he beats, he won't move forward, this has never happened before!"

Li Wei frowned slightly, looking at the dark alley in front of him a little distracted, this place is relatively remote, and there are no pedestrians passing by at all.

Suddenly, Li Wei jumped out of the carriage, pulled out his horizontal knife and walked forward.

"What's wrong with the head of the house?"

The coachman was still driving the neighing horses in place, and at this time, he looked at Li Wei, who suddenly got out of the car, and asked in a panic. However, Li Wei didn't answer, just walked quickly to the depths of the alley, his eyes firmly fixed on the front.

This is a corner of the alley, a figure appeared in Li Wei's sight, hidden in the dark, Li Wei couldn't see the person's face, he could only vaguely see the person lying on the ground, motionless.

"Who are you?"

The figure on the ground didn't speak, Li Wei stepped forward with a knife, put a horizontal knife on the neck of the man on the ground, and then kicked with his foot, and found that the man had passed out, the clothes on his body were in tatters, and there were multiple wounds on his body, all of which were sword wounds, stained with blood.

"Huh?"

Li Wei leaned down to check it and found a silver token on the man's waist, with a name written on the front: Bai Jixun, and three words written on the back: Hetudu!

"It's from Hetudu!"

Li Wei was shocked and hurriedly called out to the coachman to come and help. The two carried the unconscious man to the carriage, and Li Wei took out the fire fold and looked at it, and immediately froze on the spot.

This person Li Wei has seen, and he is the head of Hetudu, Bai Dangjia! However, Bai Dangjia's name has always been mysterious, and Li Wei only knows his surname Bai, and he doesn't know Bai Dangjia's real name.

"It turns out that Bai Dang's name is Bai Jixun, but isn't he dead?"

Last month, Pinglu Jiedu caused Shen Tan to encircle and suppress Hetudu There was a lot of trouble, not only Dengzhou, which was close to Pinglu Jiedu, so that the territory of Dengzhou knew the news, but it is said that even many big people in Luoyang City were alarmed.

According to the news released by Shen Tan, the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, the Bai Dangjia of Hetudu has been killed by the officials and soldiers on the street, and Hetudu has also been completely exterminated!

At this time, Li Wei looked at Bai Dangjia, who was covered in injuries and unconscious, his heart was full of doubts, and there was also a trace of hesitation: To save or not to save?

Why did Shen Tan want to exterminate Hetudu? Everyone said that Hetu was gradually getting bigger, threatening Shen Tan. But Li Wei knew that this was not the case, it was just four words: see the fortune and get started!

According to rumors, the rangers of Hetudu are rampant all over the world, robbing the rich and helping the poor, fighting injustice, not only winning the reputation of Hetudu all over the world, but also accumulating countless wealth in more than ten years.

Last month, Pinglu Jiedu made Shen Tan exterminate Hetudu, but did not mention the whereabouts of Hetudu's wealth, which cannot but make people suspicious.

"Head of the house? What to do with this person? ”

Just when Li Wei was thinking, the coachman said: "In the opinion of the villain, let's send this person to the Dengzhou Mansion." ”

Li Wei thought for a while and said, "No! Go back to the Mansion immediately! ”

That night, Li Wei returned to Li Congyan's mansion by car, and ordered the coachman to take care of Bai Dangjia, who was in a coma, and then went directly to meet Li Congyan.

A moment later, a team of soldiers of the New Army came out of the mansion and carried the unconscious Bai Dangjia into Li Congyan's mansion.