Fu Tang

The Yeliang army was led by Zhao Kuangyin this time, but Li Congjia didn't think that Zhao Kuangyin deliberately let them die. Even if Zhao Kuangyin had objections, he should try his best to gather the army's morale and then plan other things. It is impossible to kill these soldiers first.

Li Congjia didn't understand what was going on, and he didn't ask Shi Xueting, after all, Shi Xueting didn't go out with him, so he couldn't possibly know what happened.

As a result, after Shi Xueting got the military report, he really saw something wrong. After comparing the battle damage data of Zhao Kuangyin's department and Li Jingda's department, he suddenly said: "There is indeed a problem. If I remember correctly, Ye Liang Most of the army is Yanqi and Uyghur."

When Li Congjia thought about it, it was true that these soldiers were all newly recruited, so he handed them over to Zhao Kuangyin to lead them. Of course, Li Jingda also had soldiers from the Western Regions in his hands, but it didn't look like the soldiers from the Western Regions that Zhao Kuangyin had.

"Ask Li Jingda, the specific battle damage situation." Li Congjia was a little puzzled, yes, there are more people from the Western Regions than the Central Plains in their army, but the ratio of battle damage is wrong.

Li Congjia didn't take the liberty to question Zhao Kuangyin. The trust between him and Zhao Kuangyin is actually very fragile. Don't look at old Zhao Guishun who seems to be very honest. The Bridge Mutiny".

Li Congjia didn't want to be "Emperor Li", let alone "Emperor Zhou Gong", so he would be careful about Zhao Kuangyin.

When Li Jingda received the instruction that detailed battle damage data was required, he was somewhat flustered. He thought that some of his subordinates had lied about the figures in order to pay for empty pay and Li Congjia found out, so he quickly sorted out his subordinates and reported the detailed figures. ...Don't dare to continue to toss, Li Jingda cherishes this hard-won opportunity to lead troops.

Otherwise, if he continues on the fringes, even if his descendants have the honor of the clan, they can only be strong outsiders and capable in the middle. The clan used to have private farms, but with the fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty, all the land in his hands disappeared. After the Western Regions, there were also fiefs, and Li Congjia also distributed them to Zhuangzi, but the whole family was used to rich clothes and fine food, and the fields here were not fertile enough, and the climate was not good, so they had to work harder to maintain their lives.

Li Jingda's sense of crisis was very strong, and as a result, he cleaned up here, and spread it ten to ten times, which made Zhao Kuangyin a little suspicious, but he was fine, his subordinates were all recruits, and he had recently surrendered, so he didn't dare to go too far. Hands are clean.

Li Hongji, Li Ping, and Zhu Yuan, who were far away in Zendan, got wind of the two of them. Strictly speaking, every army has such a thing, as long as it is not too much, they just turn a blind eye. Close your eyes, after all, it is not so easy to clean up.

Thanks to the short period of time for the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Congjia was still able to hold on, but because of a problem with Li Congjia, the entire army began to be cleaned up, which made the entire army look brand new.

When the news from the Ministry of Intelligence was handed over, Li Congjia couldn't laugh or cry, but he was not angry. Now he has learned not to be serious about certain things, not to mention that if you want someone to work for you, how can you just rely on brainwashing?Who will do it if there is no benefit?

Li Congjia put the news aside, picked up the data reported by Li Jingda, stretched out his hand to lock the book case and said, "Sure enough, Fourth Uncle's side also suffered a high percentage of soldiers from the Western Regions. There must be something wrong with it."

Shi Xueting also held a report in his hand, he handed it to Li Congjia and said, "Zhao Kuangyin handed it over, let's have a look."

After Li Congjia took it over and read it, he felt a little stupid. He had thought about many possibilities before, and he also felt that so many soldiers from the Western Regions had died. It was probably because Li Jingda and Zhao Kuangyin had poor communication with them, or they didn’t care about their lives at all. for the sake.

However, I never expected that although it was said to be battle damage, most of the soldiers in the Western Regions were not killed in battle!

They all died of illness!

It is difficult for people these days to leave their hometowns all their lives. It is almost unique for Li Congjia to run from the south to the west. That is to say, he does not take crossing regions seriously, so he ran to the Western Regions on a whim. I can't make up my mind about this decision, after all, ten miles are different.

Therefore, people in the Western Regions are naturally adapted to the dry climate here. They are not used to the humidity in Sichuan. It was fine at first, but they were slightly unaccustomed to the water and soil. After a long time, they began to suffer from various diseases.

Only then did Li Congjia understand why the ancient wars liked to recruit soldiers locally. There was no other way, and Zhao Kuangyin only mentioned the most important point—winter is coming, and the winter in Shu is definitely not as warm as people imagined. moist.

Of course, it was humid, but it was a bit too wet, and it was very cold when the temperature dropped, and the soldiers from the Western Regions might not be used to it.

After reading it, Li Congjia hurriedly took the report and asked Taofu to go out to spread the word, and went directly to the Privy Council.

At this time, Li Hongji and Li Ping were meeting to discuss the issue of empty pay. Although they had speculated on Shangyi from the beginning to the end, they did this. Most of them were Han officers, but officers from the Western Regions did not dare. After all, although they are not oppressed now, they dare not be too presumptuous.

What Li Hongji discussed with Li Ping and the others was that there should be some equality between ethnic groups, no privileges should be given to any ethnic group, and no ethnic group should be oppressed, otherwise there will be many such things in the future.

"It's not easy to have a bowl of water. Your Highness is not a harsh person. Is he doing this because we have few people and are easy to be bullied here? Once the people from the Western Regions become generals and secure their positions, what do you say?" Will they overthrow the country?" Li Ping sighed and said, "There is no way to do this. If you say let them be civil servants, these people...can't study well, and if you don't suppress them, they will easily cause problems in the future."

Li Hongji said with emotion: "We still have to go back to the Central Plains sooner."

As a result, when they heard the news that Li Congjia came over in person, the two of them couldn't help being taken aback. Their first reaction was—could it be that His Highness got angry when he saw the figure of empty pay, and came over to scold them in person?

So after Li Congjia arrived at the Privy Council, he saw that the officials of the Privy Council headed by Li Hongji all had a sad expression of "I'm guilty, I admit my mistake", and couldn't help but wondered: "Do you know the news?"

Now that I know it, I want to find a solution. What is the rhythm of this expression?

As the elder brother of King Tang, Li Hongji, the privy deputy envoy appointed by Li Congjia, must step up at this time.

"I already know, please appease Your Highness."

Li Congjia was even more at a loss, why should he be angry?

Standing behind Li Congjia, Shi Xueting knew at a glance that these people must have misunderstood. Seeing that Li Congjia hadn't reacted, he stood up and said, "Zi Tinghou has a new booklet. Your Highness is very worried after reading it. I’m here to discuss with you.”

worry?Li Hongji immediately realized that it shouldn't have anything to do with the empty pay. If he knew that there were empty pay, he could just clean it up. Why should Li Congjia be worried?

Li Hongji asked: "I don't know what Zi Tinghou said?"

Taofu immediately took a step forward and gave Zhao Kuangyin's excerpt to Li Hongji. After Li Hongji bowed and glanced at it, his brows also frowned. He didn't continue to pass on this excerpt. It was for the king, and Li Congjia showed it to him. It's already a special case, so it's not good for everyone to see.

Li Hongji sorted out his language and briefly explained what Zhao Kuangyin reported, emphasizing the numbers.

Everyone was taken aback after hearing this, and was immediately a little confused. This situation... I didn't expect it before!

Indeed, although there is one person sitting here, they are all good generals who can pinch and fight, but the scope of these people's real battles is not wide, let alone Li Hongji and others, they have always been in the south of the Yangtze River. Tossing and tossing, Shi Xueting did not lead troops on a large scale until he arrived in the Western Regions.

Even though Zhao Kuangyin crossed Nanben, the climate difference between Henan and Jiangnan is far less than that between Shu and the Western Regions, but he is experienced, so he discovered this first.

Li Jingda... Li Jingda is still worried about what he did wrong, and Li Congjia is beating him!

Li Congjia said with a headache: "Let's talk about what to do in this situation."

Li Hongji frowned and said: "In this case, the soldiers who are not acclimatized should be withdrawn and then recruited locally."

There is only one way. However, if Li Hongji and Li Jingda were outside, Li Congjia would definitely be able to safely and boldly let them recruit soldiers, but Zhao Kuangyin was outside... Even if Li Congjia had eighty courages, he would not dare to let him recruit soldiers by himself. This recruitment, what if he turned against him again?

Li Ping seemed to see Li Congjia's hesitation, and said, "Your Highness, don't worry too much. If it doesn't work, let Zhao Kuangyin withdraw first. After all, most of his soldiers are recruited in Ganzhou. If these people are sent back, There are not many people under him who can use it."

Li Congjia shook his head. Although this is the reason, but he called people back and sent people to Shu to recruit soldiers. Doesn't this mean he was guarding against him?

In this way, even if there is no disagreement, there will be disagreement.

Li Hongji couldn't help but said: "Zhao Kuangyin's family members are deleting pills, so they should not be so bold."

Li Congjia frowned. He thought so too, but he is not the only one who needs to be appeased. He also needs to give an explanation to the people left behind. After all, those who go out to fight can recruit their own soldiers. Come for training, and when they return to the Central Plains in the future, whether these soldiers can be used is another matter.

Li Congjia also said: "Recently, many people have come to the Tang Dynasty to seek a living, and many of them are young and strong. Although the Hetao area is called Xiaojiangnan, it is not the real Jiangnan after all, and there is not such a vast land. If you want to support your family in relatively barren land, these young adults will have to serve in the military, so go ahead and choose.”

Li Hongji hesitated: "There is no need to choose, right? We are short of people now."

The war has been fought for so many years, many people have died, and the population has dropped sharply. Now recruitment is basically as long as they can be recruited into the army, and even many regimes will force recruitment.

In contrast, Li Congjia's military service system is more humane. Everyone agrees with this system, but his selection criteria are difficult to accept. The only son is not allowed to join the army, and the father and son are both in the army. Go home alone, don’t be too young, don’t be too big, don’t be thin, don’t be tall, don’t be tall, is this a military or a beauty pageant?

How many people can they recruit in this way?

Li Congjia knew their difficulties, but he was not ready to let go. He just said: "This standard is already very loose. People who are too young and too big can't keep up. People like this go to the battlefield to die. I'd rather not, those whose families are all young and strong in the army will always go back to take care of the old, weak, women and children, otherwise they will die in battle, how will they live in the future? This kind of recruitment is harmful to nature."

It has to be said that it hurts the sky and this statement is more acceptable to everyone. Seeing that Li Congjia refused to retreat, they had no choice but to let it go.

Of course, Li Congjia did not give up at all. At least the height requirements were relaxed, and the body requirements were naturally relaxed. The height...no one can guarantee that short people can't fight. As for the body...as long as they are not too thin, they can join the army. Afterwards, the food in the army was good, and they could always make up for it. As for those who were very fat, Li Congjia did not believe that after going through the training after enlisting in the army, these people could still gain weight!

After confirming the feasibility of recruiting troops locally, Li Congjia directly issued an order to allow Zhao Kuangyin and Li Jingda to recruit troops locally and let them act cheaply. If they felt that they had insufficient manpower to fight, they could temporarily defend the city.

It's also thanks to the fact that they have all kinds of big weapons in their hands, otherwise Li Congjia would not dare to let them do this. After all, the battle has already started, you can fight if you want, stop if you want?Also ask Meng Changtong of Shu if he agrees.

But now Li Congjia feels that with the Firearms Army, at least it is no problem to stick to it.

Thinking of this, Li Congjia felt that more soldiers from the Firearms Army should be sent over.

The Firearms Army in Li Congjia's hands is a very special existence. They don't use the army as a combat unit. They usually send a few platoons or a battalion to fight against a certain general.

At first, it was because the Firearms Army was too special, and he didn’t want them to show off and take the credit of ordinary soldiers. Later, Li Congjia was reluctant, and the Firearms Army always rushed to the front. These soldiers were carefully selected by him. I feel bad!

What's more, Li Congjia wanted to cultivate the firearms army into an elite force in the hands of the royal family. With this army, even if the ministers wanted to, they had to weigh whether they could win this army.

In this way, the personnel composition and weapons in the firearms army must be the best!

Of course, these are Li Congjia's preparations for future generations, oh, he has no descendants, then... Li Zhongyu's descendants, anyway, are preparations for the future of this dynasty.

The death of one person in such an army is a great loss!But he had to give it up. While sending people over, Li Congjia asked them to be careful not to get hot-blooded. After all, some soldiers were on the battlefield for the first time this time. Generally, there are only two situations for the first time on the battlefield. One is to be scared and stupid, One is excited and silly.

No matter what it is, Li Congjia doesn't want to see them being stupid to death by him!

When Li Congjia's imperial decree reached Li Jingda and Zhao Kuangyin's hands, their hearts fell into their stomachs, and they even felt moved.

Li Jingda was sure that Li Congjia didn't suspect him, and he also understood that Li Congjia's inquiry about the data before may be because he knew about the unacceptable problems of the soldiers in the Western Regions.

And Zhao Kuangyin finally felt that Li Congjia didn't fear him too much, so that he could work hard for Li Congjia and add bargaining chips to his daughter.

In any case, Li Congjia allowed them to recruit soldiers, which is really a great trust. Otherwise, Li Congjia could buy people from other regimes in the Central Plains, and then send them over with a little training.

"The king of Tang is really grand in his work." Zhao Pu is still serving as a military officer under Zhao Kuangyin's tent. He has always looked down on Li Congjia, and of course he looks down on Li Jing even more. Compared with Li Jing, Li Congjia is still good.

Now he is really convinced, just because of this atmosphere, he knows that Zhao Kuangyin's choice is right.

Zhao Kuangyin smiled slightly: "I've been entangled with him for many years, and it's the first time I've discovered that he's not bad, so Zeping still has to hide from the world?"

Zhao Pu cupped his hands and said, "At the beginning I invited myself to be under Lord Hou's command. Even if I think about it now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to enter the rank of courtiers. What's more, there are people in the six departments of the cabinet. I am not suitable for the Privy Council. I am afraid that I will disappoint Lord Hou again." gone."

Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said, "Are you worried that His Highness will be unhappy? There is no need to be so. As for what you said has no place, there is no need to worry."

Zhao Pu pondered for a while and said, "Let's discuss it when we go back this time."

Zhao Kuangyin didn't try to persuade him any more, he just wanted to find a chance to talk to Li Congjia when he got back. Of course, the premise of this is that he has enough credit.

Zhao Kuangyin pushed Zhao Pu like this, one is because Zhao Pu has been with him from the beginning, and he has worked hard all these years, and he is a rare right-hand man. It's only limited to colleagues, he needs his confidant, although he doesn't have to form a party, but there must always be someone who can help him wave the flag.

After Zhao Kuangyin and Li Jingda received the order, they both began to arrange to send the unaccustomed soldiers back to the outside of the pass. At the same time, Li Congjia was sitting in the study and was angry.

The source of anger was still the news reported by the Ministry of Intelligence, because there were many dead and injured soldiers in the Western Regions, this kind of thing could not be concealed, at least their families had to be informed.

As a result, this notice was broken. Neighbors saw that Han people died much less than them, and they didn’t know what the climate was not acclimatizing to. After all, Central Plains was just two words in these people’s minds. As for the size of the site, they have no concept at all.

Therefore, many people in the Western Regions took it for granted that Li Congjia was using the hand of the war to reduce their number, in order to balance the proportion of the number of Han people and other ethnic groups.

So some people began to secretly say that Li Congjia never regarded the Yanqi people and the Uyghurs as common people, and those Han people just used them as pigs and dogs, and let the Western Regions people go to the front when fighting.

Needless to say, some people really believe such words. After all, these days, everyone believes in the saying that people who are not from our tribe must have different hearts.

Li Congjia was so angry that he was about to reveal the imperial case in front of him in the study. Shi Xueting's comfort could not calm him down, he stood there and roared: "Have I given them less pensions? The preferential treatment at the families of the fallen soldiers is still less ? Do they have no brains? Do you believe such words?"

Yes, there are a lot of pensions, and the offspring of the soldiers who died in battle are also given preferential treatment. However, there are always soldiers who die in battle without offspring, not to mention... no matter how much compensation is given, that person will not be able to come back.

Li Congjia also understands this truth. What annoys him the most is that there are people fighting in front of him, and someone behind him is hindering him. When he was in Southern Tang, he tried hard to save it, but found that there were too many hindering people. In addition, Li Jing He is not a hero, even if he is similar, he probably can't handle it, so he just ran away.

Now some people are starting to hinder him, Li Congjia can't wait to arrest the person who spread the rumors!

However, it cannot be arrested. If it is really caught, it will arouse the rebellious psychology of the people. Li Congjia can only say: "Since they all think it is not good, then we will not recruit people from the Western Regions in the future."

Shi Xueting suddenly couldn't laugh or cry: "Nonsense!"

Li Congjia looked at him seriously and said: "It's really not nonsense. People from the Western Regions are not used to the climate of the Central Plains, so even if they are recruited, they will not be of much use. Fourth Uncle and the others are still required to recruit troops locally. If so, what is the use of them?"

Shi Xueting was helpless: "There must be guards here in the Western Regions."

Li Congjia thought for a while and said, "That's easy. Leave these Western Region soldiers to Long Shisan. Anyway, I promised him back then that if I return to the Central Plains one day, Suzhou will still belong to him."

Shi Xueting didn't expect him to remember this episode, so he could only say: "That's still too far away."

Li Congjia touched his chin: "Anyway, let's start reducing the proportion of soldiers from the Western Regions. We have occupied several states in the Central Plains anyway!"

Shi Xueting simply stopped persuading her, and it wasn't a big deal if she thought about it carefully. As for this rumor, the only thing they could do was to pretend that they hadn't heard it or seen it.

However, the result of laissez-faire was that something really happened, and it was still a major event. The most deceitful thing was that even the intelligence department hadn't collected any information beforehand, and Li Congjia didn't know it at all.

On the contrary, it was Li Guangrui from Dangxiang who wrote him the whole letter, only the last sentence is the most important: Beware of the Uyghurs!

The author has something to say: Shi Xueting: Chongguang, I made you a bowl of soup, try it.

Li Congjia: The taste is a bit strange, what is it made of?

Shi Xueting: Tiger whip.

Li Congjia:? ? ? ?

Shi Xueting: I've already had a bowl.

Li Congjia: Don't you want to sleep tonight?

Shi Xueting: I want to sleep with you.