The first Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty

"Good salt, good salt, really good salt." After Li Daliang tasted the salt, he called it good salt three times.

"General Li, the conditions for cooperation remain the same. I will bring people to your place tomorrow, and remember to prepare the horses." Seeing that Li Daliang had been conquered, Zhong Wen was very happy in his heart.

For cooperation between the two parties, Zhong Wen will not change this condition, and the bottom line is [-]%.

If the trial production is not successful, then this cooperation can only be said to be [-]-[-].

But if he succeeded in trial-producing refined salt, then of course Zhong Wen has the final say on this condition. Even if Li Shimin is here, Zhong Wen will not change a word of this condition.

"Okay, I'll make preparations today and set off tomorrow." After Li Daliang regained his composure, he realized that Zhong Wen and the others were far away, and quickly responded loudly to Zhong Wen.

salt.

Or refined salt.

He, Li Daliang, really didn't expect that Zhong Wen still had such abilities, which really shocked him to the point of being overwhelmed.

What is [-]% not [-]%, even if Zhong Wen wants [-]%, he has to deal with it.

"Refined salt, refined salt, we will distribute it in the future, hahahaha." Li Daliang laughed while holding a bowl of refined salt.

"General, do you want to report this matter to Li Shuai?" Li Daliang's deputy general was happy after tasting the salt, but he did not forget to remind Li Daliang.

"Go back, you go write a letter and let someone pass it on to Li Shuai. Such a good thing, naturally, Li Shuai must know. Besides, the army will be reorganized tomorrow. If Li Shuai is not told about this matter, he will not forgive me." Reminder, quickly responded.

On the second day, Zhong Wen arrived outside Li Daliang's barracks early in the morning with his hundreds of people and some temporary oxen and horse carriages he hired.

At this time, Li Daliang and the others had already made preparations.

"Zhong Shaobao, you guys came so early, haha." Li Daliang was overjoyed when he saw Zhong Wen, just like seeing a pile of golden pancakes.

"Before it's too late, Zhang Cheng, lead the people to allocate the horses, tie up the things, and we're going to set off in a while." Zhong Wen saw that Li Daliang and the others had already prepared the horses, and without waiting for Li Daliang to speak, he pointed at those horses. The empty horses commanded Zhang Cheng.

"Yes, Inspector." Zhang Cheng got the order and began to direct the staff to unload the things from the temporarily hired carriages and put them on the horses' backs.

After half an hour, what should be prepared is also ready.

Zhong Wen looked at Zhang Cheng and the others riding on their horses, then at Li Daliang and the others, they were all ready, and waved their hands and shouted: "Let's go."

Following Zhong Wen's sound of departure, Li Daliang and Zhong Wen rode side by side, smiling all over their faces, happy to see everything.

"I said, can you take back your smiling face? We are going to Tuyuhun, not to see a big play." After walking for a long time, Li Daliang's smiling face did not disappear, and Zhong Wen couldn't help it. , I feel like Li Daliang is laughing at himself.

"Hehe, I made Zhong Shaobao laugh. My old Li has met a noble person. I hope Zhong Shaobao will take care of him in the future." Li Daliang kept laughing and laughing.

Chapter 5 Nineteen Chaka Salt Lake Wants to Occupy

"I can't take care of you, General Li. I'm just a little Taoist priest. I don't have the ability to take care of you people who are in the officialdom." Zhong Wen replied angrily.

Look after?

What a joke.

No matter how you say it, Li Daliang is also a high-ranking official, and he holds the military power in his hand, so let him take care of him. Isn't this a joke for Zhong Wen?

Besides, Zhong Wen didn't care about official affairs.

If you really want to talk about taking care of him, then he has to Li Daliang to take care of his family.

"Zhong Shaobao is too modest. With Zhong Shaobao's ability, you are already the governor of a state at such a young age. You used to be a regular attendant. Now, you are the prince Shaobao. If my old Li returns to Chang'an in the future, If something really happens, then why don't you ask Zhong Shaobao to take care of it." Li Daliang said with a smile.

There is no problem with what Li Daliang said.

People, in the middle of the court, how can they not offend others.

What's more, Li Daliang was a straightforward person, and he offended many people.

For example, two years ago, he offended a servant of the internal servant supervisor, and also offended the supervisory censor. If he hadn't written a letter to Li Shimin at that time, maybe the censor's accusation against him would have pulled him down.

According to Li Daliang's temperament, if he really wants to return to Beijing to take up a post, he will definitely provoke a lot of enemies.

"I can't take care of you, and I can't hold any position in Chang'an." Zhong Wen replied blankly.

Back to work in Chang'an?

Zhong Wen didn't have that thought for the time being.

It was not easy to get out of these official positions, but in the end Li Shimin forced him to hold two official positions.

But then again.

As a county lord, no matter what, I have to be grateful to Li Shimin.

After all, with this identity, Zhong Wen and everyone in his family have received a lot of favors. Based on this alone, Zhong Wen can only accept, but cannot refuse.

But if Zhong Wen was asked to return to Chang'an to take up any post, at least for now, Zhong Wen was unwilling, and it was impossible for him to go to Chang'an.

Along the way, people from both parties were talking and laughing.

The hundreds of people led by Li Daliang were all soldiers, and they were soldiers fighting on the border.

The government soldiers brought by Zhang Cheng and the others had also fought in battles before, so when the two parties met together, they naturally had a common language.

"Are you also from Lizhou? Which county in Lizhou are you from?" A soldier named Zhong Da was talking to a soldier of the frontier army. When he learned that this person was from Lizhou, he immediately liked him.

"I'm from Sanquan County, Lizhou. Where are you from in Lizhou?" The army over there responded happily.

"Really? Are you really from Sanquan County? I am also from Sanquan County, Sandou Village, do you know? I am from Sandou Village." Zhong Da heard that the frontier soldier also came from his hometown, and he was a little overjoyed It was time, and the voice was raised a lot, so that the people nearby all looked sideways at the two of them in shock.

"You are from Sandou Village? Then we are a little far away. I am from Fangjia Village. My name is Fang De. What is your name?" The frontier soldier did not expect that he was a soldier in Shancheng. To meet a fellow countryman.

"My name is Zhong Da, brother Fang, and we will eat in the same pot from now on, hahahaha." Zhong Da laughed out loud.

Zhong Da's laughter attracted Zhong Wen and Li Daliang who were walking in front.

"What are you laughing at?" Seeing someone laughing behind him, Li Daliang turned around and shouted angrily.

Seeing Li Daliang's angry shout, Zhong Da shrank his neck in fright, and quickly shut his mouth.

"Why are you nervous? If the soldiers don't speak, they won't be suffocated? This is not a march to fight a war, so it doesn't matter if you relax a little bit now." Zhong Wen had already heard the conversation between the two.

Zhong Da and the others spoke so loudly, according to Zhong Wen's ears, how could they not hear them.

"Zhong Shaobao, you don't know this. As a soldier who is going to fight abroad, you can't do this. Whether it's marching or normal training, if you don't have rules, you won't be around." Li Daliang retorted.

After hearing this, Zhong Wen also shut up, not wanting to dwell on this issue any more.

People who lead troops naturally have their own methods of leading troops, so Zhong Wen can't interrupt too much.

Although we have not yet reached the border of Tuguhun, it is normal to be a little looser, but as a latecomer, Zhong Wen also knows that military discipline is very important, so he no longer discourages it.

After evening, a group of [-] people had already arrived at the border between Tang State and Tuyuhun.

When Zhong Wen and the others arrived, they saw a lot of bunkers.

And among these bunkers, there are border troops from the Tang Kingdom guarding the border, and there are quite a few of them. Zhong Wen saw that there were at least a thousand people.

"General Li." As soon as Zhong Wen and the others arrived, a guard got the news and came to salute Li Daliang.

"Give us a meal, and prepare some places to live. Today we will spend the night here." Li Daliang was not polite, and ordered to the guard.

Who would be polite to his subordinates?

The guards here belong to Li Daliang's subordinates, and the generals have arrived, so they naturally have to obey orders.

One night passed, and in the early morning of the second day, Zhong Wen and the others set off again.

When the sun was rising, Zhong Wen and his party had already entered the territory of Tuyuhun.

However, along the way, there was not a single soldier of Tuyuhun, not even one of the common people, which made Zhong Wen very puzzled.

"There is no one around here, and you will see people from Tuguhun only after another ten or twenty miles." Li Daliang saw Zhong Wen's puzzlement, and then explained.

After walking for another morning, when Zhong Wen and the others were about to reach the West Sea (Qinghai Lake), they saw some Tuyuhun people.

"Zhong Shaobao, we have to go south. If we go north, there will be Tuguhun's army. If we go southwest, there are relatively few people, and we can directly reach the salt-producing areas within a few days." Li Daliang pointed out Looking at the slightly flat land in the south, he said to Zhong Wen.

"Huh?" Zhong Wen was puzzled.

As far as Zhong Wen knew, the Chaerhan Salt Lake was far away from the West Sea.

Arrived at Chaerhan Salt Lake within a few days, at least, according to the current speed of travel, Zhong Wen did not believe that he could reach it.

"Zhong Shaobao, the Qiang people in the southwest are close to Tubo, and Tubo hasn't sent troops to Tuguhun so far, so Tuguhun doesn't have many troops to send to the southwest, besides, Tuguhun is still in civil strife. At this time, they don't have time to dispatch soldiers and horses." Li Daliang saw that Zhong Wen was puzzled, and then explained.

However, Li Daliang didn't know where Zhong Wen was puzzled, he thought it was because of the military issues between Tubo and Tuyuhun.

"You said just a few days later that you can reach the land that produces salt? Where is the land that produces salt?" Zhong Wen couldn't figure it out, and then asked Li Daliang.

"Three days, as long as three days, we will definitely arrive at the place where the salt is produced. According to the local people, what is the name of that place called Chaka." Li Daliang saw that Zhong Wen was puzzled here, and explained again. .

"Chaka?" When Zhong Wen heard such a name, he always felt a little familiar, but he just couldn't remember where it was.

While riding a horse, Zhong Wen recalled some things from his previous life.

Suddenly, Zhong Wen slapped his thigh and said, "I see, it turns out that Chaka is Chaka, haha, it seems we don't need to go to Chaerhan anymore."

"Zhong Shaobao, who is this?" Li Daliang was really confused when he saw Zhong Wen's surprise.

"It's okay, it's okay, originally we were going to Chaerhan, but after hearing what you said about this Chaka, I realized that there is also a salt lake there. General Li, we must occupy this Chaka Salt Lake, whether it is Tuyuhun Whether it’s Tubo or Qiang people, if they can be used by us, then the labor and so on can be solved.”

After Zhong Wen figured out this link, he was delighted.

Chaka Salt Lake is closer to Tang Kingdom, which is the best for Zhong Wen.

At least, Chaka is more convenient than Chaer Khan, and the transportation is also convenient, which is better than going deep into the hinterland of Tuguhun.

As for Zhong Wen's statement that he wanted to use the Tubo people, the Tuyuhun people, and the Qiang people for his own side, thinking about it this way can also resolve the conflict.

As for whether it will succeed or not, Zhong Wen is just putting forward an idea of ​​his own.

"Zhong Shaobao, don't even think about it. The tribes of Tubo and Tuyuhun don't like us Tang people. It can be said that they are very hostile. If we want to solve the labor problem, we have to be ourselves." Li Daliang This has been staying for a long time, and I have seen many problems between various ethnic groups.

"Let's see when the time comes, unite if you can, drive away if you can't, conquer if you can't." Zhong Wen doesn't know the situation yet, but thinks that anyone can unite as long as they have interests.

Besides, Zhong Wen just wanted to unite with those ordinary people. As for the leaders of those tribes, Zhong Wen didn't think he could unite.

Afterwards, following what Li Daliang pointed out, Zhong Wen and the others headed southwest.

However, during the march, Li Daliang had already sent scouts out.

Entering the territory of other countries, the scouts would naturally have to be sent out.

He, Li Daliang, as the guard of Shancheng, naturally had his own way of leading troops to fight, but for these ways, Zhong Wen just looked at them and passed.

Zhong Wen didn't understand leading troops to fight, and he had no right to intervene in Li Daliang's military affairs.

Marching all the way, three days later, Zhong Wen and the others finally arrived at Chaka Salt Lake.

In the past few days, Zhong Wen and the others also met some tribes of Tuyuhun, and even those tribes brought their troops to surprise Zhong Wen and the others.

However, when they saw that Zhong Wen and his party had more than 600 people, they stopped there.

There are big and small tribes in Tuyuhun.

There are tens of thousands of people in the big ones, and hundreds of people in the small ones.

The tribes that Zhong Wen met only had two or 3000 people, but if they really wanted to gather troops, they would probably only have 1000 people.

The 1000-member Tuguhun tribe wanted to fight against the [-] generals of the Tang Dynasty. They could not imagine what the consequences would be, so they had to stop, send people to follow, and then sent people to Fucheng City (the capital of Tuguhun) to report.

The fighting strength of the soldiers of the Tang State was not just blown out, it was actually fought out.

Not to mention that the Tuguhun tribe did not dare to attack, even the Turkic soldiers and horses were beaten to pieces by the Tang State. Now that Tuguhun is in a state of civil strife, it would take at least five times as many troops to attack Zhong Wen and the others. Centaurs are estimated to have a chance of winning.

Furthermore, in addition to the [-]-year-old soldiers, there is also Zhong Wen, a top innate master.

If there is a war, Zhong Wen will not be relentless.

This time, Zhong Wen only seeks money, not life.

But for the sake of benefiting the people of the state, Zhong Wen didn't mind killing people.

5 Chapter Twenty

"Zhong Shaobao, this is the Chaka I was talking about. Look, there are still many traces of local people picking salt nearby." Li Daliang pointed to the Chaka Salt Lake in Ruoda and said to Zhong Wen.

The traces of salt mining by the local people mentioned by Li Daliang are not the so-called traces at all.

Zhong Wen looked as if he had just run away not long ago.

The traces of salt mining indicate that it took at least a few days, but there are a lot of tools in front of him, which is obviously caused by fleeing.

Zhong Wen looked towards the distance of the salt lake.