Don't be a prince

Speaking of this matter, Feng An looked helpless: "His Royal Highness does not know that the Liu family is the most powerful in Quanzhou. Because Quanzhou is close to the Central Plains, the Liu family is the second most powerful family in Lingnan after the Feng family. For a long time, Liu Everyone is opposed to surrender, and even has the stupid idea of ​​becoming a king. The old man finally gained the trust of the Central Plains in Lingnan. How can he destroy what he did? Since I told His Highness today, I hope His Highness will help hide it Give it a go!"

hide?How to hide such a big thing?Now it is just a period of dissatisfaction. Once the Liu family rebels, it would be strange if there is no bloodshed.Li Chengqian knew the emperor's thoughts too well. He was worried that those who hadn't caused trouble in the past few years would let him make an example. Once the Liu family rebelled, it would be strange if he didn't seize the opportunity to make a big fuss.

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian said solemnly: "Mr. Feng, even Gu would not have the guts to cover up such a big matter as treason. Since the Liu family doesn't know how to praise, why do you help him with the lawsuit? Since Gu has arrived in Lingnan, he is Need to stand upright, since the Liu family has hit the muzzle, consider yourself unlucky! King of Hejian!"

Li Xiaogong took a few steps forward, turned around and bowed, if not for his status as an elder, he would definitely kneel down on one knee at this time.Obviously, the prince is ready to see blood.

"Guming, you select 5000 people to come ashore with gunpowder weapons, and make sure to catch every person in charge of the Liu family. If you can't catch them alive, shoot them to death on the spot!"

After finishing speaking, Li Chengqian looked at Feng An again: "Mr. Feng, since you are here to intimidate the Liu family, you must have brought a lot of people with you. They are all from Lingnan. I'm afraid you don't have the heart to do it. If that's the case, you are alone. Block the Liu family's escape route, your people don't need to participate in the war, you just need to block it."

Feng An sighed, but still knelt on one knee to accept the order.

The horn sounded, and the three ships stopped nearby, and Li Xiaogong began to select the people who would go ashore.Out of selfishness, he simply drew 2000 out of 500 people from the Donghai Division. This is a rare gunpowder weapon for combat.To be conservative, he would choose the Xuanjia Army after counting the [-] relatives, and the remaining [-].

After staying on the boat for a long time, it is rare to have the opportunity to go ashore for activities. In addition to Li Xiaogong's 5000 people, Li Chengqian himself also called 2000 people and went ashore.Li Chengqian is unwilling to fight against his own people, but it is still necessary to observe Li Xiaogong's fighting methods.

This place is only ten miles away from Quanzhou Prefecture. After the preparation was completed, Li Xiaogong asked Feng An to go out first and cut off the three roads of Quanzhou Prefecture. He led the army to press forward.This posture doesn't seem to be annihilating the Liu family, but more like overthrowing the Quanzhou government.

The army besieged the city, and the governor of Quanzhou rushed out of the state capital like crazy, ran to the front of the army and shouted, begging the army to stop and discuss it.

However, Li Xiaogong obviously had no intention of negotiating, so he just led the army through the place where the governor of Quanzhou was standing.When the army passed by, only the governor of Quanzhou stayed where he was.

Followed by Li Chengqian's team, glanced at Quanzhou Inspector who fell on the ground and peed his pants, Li Tai waved his hands in disgust, and ordered his guards to lift him aside and tie him up.This governor was not an official sent by the imperial court, but one appointed from Quanzhou.The Liu family rebelled, and he couldn't escape the blame, and I'm afraid he couldn't escape the knife.

Li Xiaogong led the team until a hundred steps outside the main gate of Quanzhou before stopping, shouted Tai Tai, and pointed to the main gate.After a while, Yu Tai ordered Tianhou to take people into Quanzhou.

After a full quarter of an hour, when Sky-Scrolling Monkey and the others returned, Li Xiaogong took out a red flag, held it high, and then waved it down vigorously.

In the next moment, arrows from crossbows shot at the city wall of Quanzhou city one after another.

The city wall of Quanzhou is made of stone and ordinary mud, and it is only two feet high.However, with a hundred arrows going down, a gap of four or five feet long was blasted out with the city gate as the center.

Even though the gates of the city were open, Li Xiaogong still wanted to declare the strength of the Central Plains army through this method.As for sending the army in first to tell the people around the city wall to avoid it, it is already the best of benevolence.

The gunpowder smoke cleared, and before Li Xiaogong gave an order, a large group of people actually walked out of the gap in the city gate.

The leading one cried out in pain as he walked: "I knew it was impossible, I knew it was courting death! Cheng Wu, you are taking the Liu family to court death! A century-old family business is now ruined!"

Feng An, who had finished arranging the siege of the city, rushed back to Li Chengqian's side, saw the person who came out, and said, "Your Highness, these are the members of the Liu family and the clan elders, but only those who advocate self-reliance are missing. Two people, these two people are also the current head of the Liu family and his younger brother."

Li Chengqian nodded, and did not interfere with Li Xiaogong's order, but just sent someone to inform him of the news.

When the members of the Liu family approached, Li Xiaogong ordered soldiers to come forward and tie them up.

After escorting the elders of the Liu family down, four more eight-ox crossbow arrows shot at the city wall slightly alternately, making four roars.

Next, there are three.

two...

a...

After the final announcement, Li Xiaogong pointed forward with his long sword and roared: "Enter the city! Be careful not to kill too much!"

There was no response to the final announcement, which shows that people are determined to resist, and after the best of benevolence and righteousness, they will use the knife.To be able to waste time and give opportunities is already because Lingnan is a member of Datang.

Not interested in going to the city to see the scene of using a knife against his own people, Li Chengqian just waited quietly.

Half an hour later, Li Xiaogong led the team out again, and the four leading soldiers came out carrying a dead body one by one.Following behind were several large vehicles full of dead bodies.Needless to say, these are all immediate members of the Liu family.

Rebellion, although there is an "action" difference between rebellion and rebellion, but the culpability is the same.Even if the emperor had announced that the punishment would be eased, the rebellion still firmly held the position of the first crime.As long as it is a rebel, the whole family sit together, there is no reason to speak.

Escorting those who were crying, and pushing those who had already belched, Li Xiaogong returned to his life.

Facing several large carts of dead people, Li Tai's reaction was the most direct, covering his mouth and vomited aside. Although Li Ke was better, his face was still pale.He guessed that today's matter would not end hastily, but seeing the expected scene, he still couldn't accept it.

Li Xiaogong dismounted, clasped his fists and said: "His Royal Highness, the Liu family has a total of 340 and [-] people, and now [-] of them are lying down, and [-] of them are captured alive."

There are 37 more, needless to say by Li Xiaogong, Li Chengqian also knows that these are women and children.Women and children, even if they are not included in the list of executions in the case of rebellion, what awaits them is still the lives of the priests, slaves, and untouchables.To put it bluntly, it's not much better than being dead.

"The dead ones, except for the two culprits, need to send the heads and those six to Chang'an, and the rest can be buried in the ground. Women and children don't need to be escorted to Chang'an, they can be sold in Quanzhou."

Hearing this disposition, Li Xiaogong was startled, and said: "His Royal Highness, isn't this disposition too merciful? There may be a threat of resurgence."

Glancing at Feng An next to him, Li Chengqian said: "Facing the ocean of the Tang Dynasty, can it still be burned again? Let's deal with it like this."

Li Xiaogong had no choice but to take the order and leave.

After Li Chengqian took a look, Feng An was still a little embarrassed, cupped his hands and said, "Why does His Royal Highness want to look at this old man?"

Turning the horse around, Li Chengqian coughed lightly and said, "Mr. Feng is very capable. He eliminated a competitor of the Feng family without bloodshed. However, I still suggest that you don't extend your hand to Quanzhou."

Obviously, Feng An did not expect him to come to Lingnan, but Feng An had planned for a long time to eradicate the Liu family.The Liu family is indeed unforgivable. When he arrived in Lingnan, he just needed a chance to stand up.Perhaps, this is not premeditated for a long time, but it is an indisputable fact that Feng An is the most direct profiter when everything is integrated.

Feng An was not embarrassed by being pointed out, but said seriously: "His Royal Highness, don't worry, I know how to measure, Quanzhou is similar to Yuezhou, without the obstruction of the Liu family, my suggestion is to select officials from Yuezhou or Yangzhou Go south and open the gap in Lingnan."

Looking at Feng An meaningfully, Li Chengqian really didn't know what to say, so he could only urge the horse forward.

It is impossible to do things smoothly, but since seeing Feng An, Li Chengqian really felt that this trip to Lingnan was too smooth.Kill the chicken to warn the monkey and catch the chicken, the news spreads, and the effect of establishing prestige is also achieved.Although Feng An's attitude is still firm, but under this firmness, he kept jumping up and down with another sentence:

My Highness the Crown Prince, are you going back to Chang'an?

For the aftermath, Li Chengqian ordered Li Xiaogong to leave it to Feng An, and continued to move towards Gaozhou.Feng An had no choice but to leave the Feng family on the shore and follow the prince and ancestor.

If it is said that in the north of Quanzhou, meeting people on the coast is like winning "one more bottle", then when you reach the border of Lingnan, if you want to meet people on the shore, you will win the Liuhe lottery.

"Prehistoric" is the portrayal of a large area of ​​land in the south of the Five Ridges.

There are really too few people in Lingnan, so few that they don't even have enough ability to challenge nature.Here, there are many forests that no one dares to enter because of the miasma in the forest.Although he wouldn't die from festering as rumored, Li Chengqian didn't think methane was a breathable thing.

"It's like this. Although the ancestors said that slash-and-burn farming opened up a large area of ​​​​livable land, the population of Lingnan has not increased. It is already a fluke for one or two of ten children to grow up safely to get married and have children."

Listening to Feng An's explanation of Lingnan, Li Tai and Li Ke couldn't help but gasp, but Li Chengqian didn't think Feng An was talking nonsense.In the environment of the Central Plains, the average life expectancy cannot even exceed 30 years, let alone Lingnan.

Extreme weather, poisonous insects in the jungle, rampant diseases, these are the enemies of Lingnan people.

Chapter 393 Lion Skin

It is always said that the matter of life and death is not very good, so Feng An quickly changed the subject and began to talk about the history of Lingnan.Don't look at the remoteness of Lingnan, but in terms of dynasties, it can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty, and the humanities can be traced back to the origin of China.However, the latter is not being paid attention to now.

"After Qin King Yingzheng unified the six countries, he sent Tu Sui to lead 50 Qin troops to attack Lingnan. Seven or eight years later, the Qin army basically occupied Lingnan. Immediately, Qin Shihuang captured Lingnan In the region, there are three counties "Guilin, Xiangjun, and Nanhai". This is the earliest record in the records."

Li Xiaogong nodded at the side and said: "This is the earliest record of the Central Plains' rule over Lingnan. At that time, Qin Shihuang attacked Lingnan, and the method he chose was to use a large army to fight to the end. It took seven or eight years for an army of 50. Basically 'occupation of Lingnan, rather than subjugation. 50 and seven or eight years together, it is so conspicuous. And the word 'occupation' shows the difficulty of Lingnan people. Relying on the vast land of Lingnan, they They can all transform into little mice on the grassland, coming and going without a trace.

To be honest, at the beginning, the old man did send troops to the south, imitating Qin Shihuang to conquer Lingnan by force, but it was for this reason that he chose to simply threaten.The Tang Dynasty was different from the Qin Dynasty. At that time, the old man had only a meager [-] soldiers. Facing Lingnan, he was really powerless! "

Although in front of Feng An, Li Xiaogong did not intend to hide his thoughts.

Feng An didn't care, and agreed: "If you really sent troops to the south, I'm afraid the conflict between Lingnan and the Central Plains would be irreconcilable. Since the Qin Dynasty, Lingnan has been the first choice for the imperial court to exile criminal officials. The traffic between the two places Although it is blocked, the communication between the blood vessels has not stopped. To be honest, when I went to Chang'an for a pilgrimage, many people still looked at it with the eyes of barbarians, which made me very hurt!"

Li Tai has always been good at invigorating the atmosphere. Seeing that Feng An was a little sad, he leaned over and asked, "Gong Guogong, when I was looking through the classics, I saw about Zhao Tuo, the king of Lingnan. It is recorded in the book that the founding emperor actually tortured his son." After he died, the throne was passed on to his grandson, and some people said that he lived for more than 100 years. Is it true? Tell me about Zhao Tuo? The records of the Central Plains to other places are often written by history writers, subjective Assumed, it is really unbelievable.”

Mentioning Zhao Tuo, Feng An's sadness was swept away immediately, and he said with a smile: "Of course, Zhao Tuo is a famous person in Lingnan. At the end of Qin Dynasty, Lingnan was still under the rule of the Qin Dynasty. At that time, Nanhai County Captain Ren Xiao was critically ill, so he appointed Longchuan County Magistrate Zhao Tuo as his replacement. As a result, Zhao Tuo, a predecessor, was very ambitious. Chaos, no one has the energy to pay attention to the small place of Lingnan, so Zhao Tuo attacked Guilin and Xiangjun by force, established the Nanyue Kingdom, and called himself the Nanyue Wuwang.

After becoming the king of Nanyue, Zhao Tuo integrated the forces in the south of the Five Ridges and secured his throne.However, he was so alive that his sons died of old age and illness one after another, and even his grandsons died too.When he had had enough of being an emperor and really thought about who he should pass on to, he could only choose among his grandsons.In addition, because he held power too tightly before, he did not even cultivate a qualified successor, so that in the end he could only choose a mediocre grandson to inherit the throne. Only 15 years after his death, the Nanyue Dynasty collapsed It's..."

The chatterbox couldn't be stopped once it started, so even when it was lunch time, everyone gathered in the captain's cabin to listen to Feng An's storytelling.The sailing journey is extremely boring, and I am tired of shooting fish, and listening to stories is also good.

"Zhao Tuo's life can be said to be extraordinarily wonderful. For Lingnan, what he did in his life was indeed right, but for the Central Plains and Lingnan, he did not. It is indeed right for the Fang forces to stick to the land and prevent it from being invaded. However, it is true that they established themselves as kings, and even established themselves as emperors. Said it was the biggest failure of his life."

While eating the rice, Feng An ended his evaluation of Zhao Tuo with one sentence.

Li Ke put down his bowl and chopsticks, cupped his hands to Feng An and said, "At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the troubled times were similar to those at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Zhao Tuo failed to resist the temptation of the situation and became king by himself. It was indeed the biggest failure in his life. Unlike him, For the sake of righteousness, you sacrificed your own interests and refused to be crowned king, which is considered a great contribution to Datang. Please accept Li Ke's respect!"

After finishing speaking, Li Ke left the table and bowed his hands to Feng An, who was so startled that Feng An got up and avoided, not even daring to scream.

Li Xiaogong also put away his icy expression, poured Feng An a cup of tea himself and said: "When sailing at sea, alcohol is completely prohibited on board, so I will replace wine with tea, I propose a toast to you!"

Seeing Feng An's bewildered look, Li Chengqian put down his chopsticks and extended a thumb to Li Tai.

Obviously, Li Tai deliberately mentioned Zhao Tuo's existence.Zhao Tuo is so similar to Feng An, and when he mentioned Zhao Tuo, he not only praised what Feng An had done, but also issued a hint of warning.This kind of art of conversation is definitely at the master level.

Li Tai naturally knew why Brother Huang gave him a thumbs up, so he just smiled, which was regarded as a response.

Now that Zhao Tuo is mentioned, there is no reason not to talk about Feng An's grandmother, Mrs. Xian. Say now.To be honest, Feng An is far less famous than his grandma in the Central Plains. He was able to gain the respect that the emperor had before, 1% of which was due to the face of his ancestors.

When it comes to Mrs. Xian, it is difficult to explain clearly in one morning. Therefore, during the days when the fleet sailed, everyone was listening to stories.

After passing through Quanzhou, Chaozhou, Xunzhou, and Gangzhou, the fleet finally arrived at Gaozhou, the center of Lingnan, just before Mrs. Xian’s story was over, there was no other topic, and everyone played cards and mahjong together.

If the Lingnan seaside was still like a prehistoric place before, in the boundary of Gaozhou, it finally saw its popularity.There are crowds of people gathering in many places along the coast, especially when the three ships entered the range of the Gaozhou state capital, it seemed to have arrived in another place.

Standing on the bow deck, the first thing you can see is the harbor.

Stuck at the estuary of the Pearl River, as far as the eye can see, it is basically covered by cement. The waves hit the cement seawall again and again, but they can only return in vain.There are boats everywhere around the pier, and the bottoms of many boats raised by the waves are filled with various shellfish and green moss. It looks like a long-distance boat.Hu merchants of all kinds of hair are directing the slaves to transport the goods to land, deliver them to the merchants of the Tang Dynasty, and then transport the goods he wants back to the ship.

What surprised Li Chengqian the most was that in the cargo, he actually saw Lao Hei, who should not be the Nishatuo people from Southeast Asia, because they moved to the coast with them, as well as ivory, antlers, zebra skins, and even There is also a lion skin, held by a strong warrior himself, surrounded by guards with swords.

Seeing the prince staring straight at the place, Feng An said with a smile: "Kunlun slaves, Your Highness should have seen them before, they are also a kind of goods like ivory and other things. The Kunlun slaves transported from the far west, after passing The turbulence on the sea is almost non-existent. In addition, it looks strange, runs fast, and is as powerful as an ox. It is the favorite cargo of many dignitaries. If a Kunlun slave can be transported to Chang'an in its entirety, what price will it be? , not much worse than equivalent ivory."

Although he had seen such things as selling people as goods more than once in Chang'an, Li Chengqian still felt a little uncomfortable seeing the scene in front of him.If you don't get used to it, you don't get used to it, but he has no plans to take care of it.People always have to integrate with society, and society cannot change for a specific person.

Brother Hei can ignore it, but that lion skin is a good thing.As long as you take it down and give it to the emperor as a birthday present, not to mention luxurious, you might save a lot of money.

Looking at Li Tai and Li Ke who were also salivating, Li Chengqian took advantage of the opportunity of the boat approaching the pier and jumped onto the mast of an adjacent boat without hesitation.

The prince's sudden action shocked many people.Feng An ran to the stern without hesitation, and jumped off after him.Later people wanted to jump again, but it was too late, so they had to order the soldiers in the water wheel warehouse to shake the water wheel so that the boat would land faster.

Li Ke and Li Tai, who understood what Li Chengqian was thinking, could only grab onto the railing on the ship's side and shout loudly.

Ignoring Li Tai and Li Ke's yelling, Li Chengqian walked quickly towards the lion skin.

Lion skins are also available in Datang, but the lion skins of Datang are generally from Tianzhu. This kind of lion skin from Africa, no, the lion skin of the "land of the extreme west" in the population of Datang is the king of kings.

Well, it's because it's so far away!

Seeing a young man approaching quickly, the warriors guarding the lion's skin immediately drew their swords, so aggressive that they wanted to strike if there was a disagreement.

Feng An, who was chasing up from behind, saw that it was too late to get close, so he could only yell at the defenders in the harbor.The defenders were not stupid, and immediately a dozen people ran out to guard Li Chengqian's surroundings.

However, these guards are superfluous, because Li Chengqian knows that his relatives are already on guard without looking.Even if he took the first step, the relatives who went ashore later could catch up within this period of time.Although the lion's skin is good, he will not commit the stupidity of losing his life.

After so much effort, Feng An finally arrived. Time is not forgiving, but he was out of breath after running for such a long distance.

After finally taking a breath, Feng An anxiously said: "His Royal Highness, how could you go ashore without guards? These barbarian warriors don't understand our language, and conflicts are not once or twice. If these few don't The long-eyed one hurt you, how many lives in Lingnan are enough to pay for it!"

Glancing at the relative who had already occupied the favorable terrain and aimed his hand crossbow here, Li Chengqian did not explain, but asked Feng An: "I want to buy this lion skin, who should I tell?"

Glancing at the badge on the samurai, Feng An replied: "These people should belong to a Dashi businessman named Hamud. This Hamud is quite influential in Dashi, and I will fight against him. Cross-talk."

After finishing speaking, Feng An looked around, waved towards a large pile of goods, and shouted.

Hearing Feng An's shout, a Hu businessman hurriedly put down the conversation at hand and ran over in a hurry.

Seeing Feng An, Hamud bowed to the ground without hesitation, and said in a strange Tang tone: "My lord, I didn't expect Hamud's warriors to attack you so stupidly. Please be generous, Harmoud!" De is willing to make amends."

After speaking, Hamud raised his head slightly and looked at the pair of shoes that were one size smaller in front of him.

A businessman lives by winking, and he is very clear about the etiquette of Tang Dynasty. This humble young man is probably a great nobleman, and even the lord stands behind him.

Hamud fell on the ground, and the warriors who escorted the lion skin also quickly fell on the ground. The warrior holding the lion skin was either lying on the ground or not, and was embarrassed in place.

Li Chengqian beckoned, and he was relieved. He cleverly placed the lion skin under Li Chengqian's feet, and then stepped back, lying on the ground.

Crouching down and touching the lion's skin, Li Chengqian couldn't help curling his lips.The color is average, although I don't know what process it has gone through, but it is far inferior to the tanning in the Central Plains, and it feels a little hard to the touch.Fortunately, the integrity is good, and the mane is extraordinarily dense, whether it is used as a cloak or a cushion, it will not affect the use too much.

Nodding in satisfaction, Li Chengqian signaled to Zhang Yun who came later to put away the lion skin, and said to Hamud: "Gu likes your lion skin very much. Tell me a price. I will buy it."

Hamoud didn't know what the self-proclaimed "solitary" was about. In his impression, Feng An might be a big lord here, but the other lords were not weak. He didn't dare to offend another just to please one. .

"Dear guest, Hamud apologizes for your recklessness. If possible, Hamud is willing to use a lion skin as an apology. However, this lion skin was ordered by Lord Xu a few years ago. Dare to break the contract? Please change the way to make Hamoud apologize."

Hearing what Hamud said, Li Chengqian couldn't help looking at Feng An.

Feng An snorted coldly and said, "Your Highness wants to leave the Xu family's leather to give them face. The little Xu family dares to snatch things from His Highness?"

After finishing speaking, Feng An looked at Hamud and said, "Just sell, this is the prince of our Tang Dynasty, do you understand?"

"prince?"

Hearing this word, Hamoud, who was about to raise his head, immediately hit his head on the concrete floor: "Hamoud understands, Hamoud understands, there are many treasures on the villain's boat, which one does His Royal Highness like, Take them away, Hamud is willing to use them as an apology to His Royal Highness!"

It's really like hitting a snake with a stick. Looking at the extremely humble Hamud, Li Chengqian didn't despise him much.This is a real businessman who can take advantage of all possible opportunities and make friends with all people who are beneficial to him.Let alone a lion's skin today, Li Chengqian believed that even if he wanted Hamud's entire ship's cargo, he would agree.Compared with short-term benefits, long-term benefits are more exciting.

"Get up, I don't need so many things from you, the lion's skin is enough."

Seeing that the prince didn't mean to blackmail him, Hamud had no choice but to stand up.He obviously kept his goods, but everyone could see the regret in his eyes.

Chapter 394 The Leaping Clown