Chapter 258: The Storm of Entering the City (Part 2)

Before the eunuchs who went to announce the imperial edict set out, Li Qing'an had already arrived outside the Huaqing Palace. Huaqing Palace was not just a palace, but also included hundreds of inclined forest land. It was three miles away from the Huaqing Palace, and Li Qing'an was stopped by the Yulin Army.

Nearly a hundred Yulin soldiers lined up and pointed their bows and arrows at him. An officer rushed forward and shouted arrogantly: "This is a royal important place, and all the idle people will go away!"

Li Qing'an stepped forward and bowed and smiled, "I am Li Qing'an, the governor of Anxi. I am here to ask for the emperor. Please inform me."

Hearing the three words "Li Qing'an", the Yulin soldiers were in awe and put away their bows and arrows. However, the officer's face changed, and the horse took a few steps back and looked up and down, "Are you Li Qing'an?"

Li Qingan also immediately knew who he was, Pei Xiao, Yang Guozhong's brother-in-law, a bold and arrogant person who intercepted letters without authorization. He was only twenty-four or five years old. Although he was wearing military uniforms, he did not have the temperament of a soldier on his body, and he exuded a kind of market ruffian in his bones.

Pei Xiao came to Chang'an from Chengdu Prefecture last summer. Before that, he was the military officer of the Jiannan Jiedushi's military officer, who was engaging in food, drinking, gambled, and was omnipotent. He relied on Yang Guozhong's power to rampant in the village and was a cancer in the Jiannan Army. After Gao Xianzhi became the Jiannan Jiedushi, he could not tolerate him and drove him out of the military camp. Pei Xiao came to Chang'an to join Yang Guozhong. With his experience in Jiannan Jiedushi's military officer, he was soon promoted to the General of the Yulin Army.

It is easy to get promoted, and the Yang family is in Chang'an, which makes him even more arrogant and arrogant.

Li Qingan smiled quietly and said, "It's me, please report to the emperor on my behalf that I have military and national affairs."

"Is that true? What's wrong with you?" he asked something he shouldn't have asked.

Li Qingan immediately looked dark and shouted angrily: "Bold! What kind of thing are you? How dare you be so arrogant."

Li Qing'an's sudden turn of confrontation scared Pei Xiao so much that his whole body trembled. The knife in his hand fell to the ground. He had been in Chang'an for more than half a year, and no one had dared to scold him like this. Even General Changsun Quanxu whispered lightly and spoke to him in a negotiation tone. Li Qing'an actually scolded him in public, letting him fall to the ground in front of everyone.

Pei Xiao was so angry that he pointed at Li Qing'an, and cursed with his hips: "You dare to be rude to me from Anxi, you know what you are. Get away from me. If you dare to say something more, I will shoot you to death."

Li Qingan sneered, "If you have the courage, you can cum, I'll wait for you!"

After saying that, he took off his sword, threw it to his personal soldiers, walked two steps forward, and snorted contemptuously: "Aren't you going to shoot me to death? Come on! I'll let you cum, don't be fucked like a dog, you can only bark."

"Son of a bitch!"

Pei Xiao was furious, his face flushed, and blood suddenly surged over his head, and he suddenly lost his mind. Zhang Gong aimed Li Qing'an with an arrow.

Li Qing'an was ready. He quickly looked fast and grabbed the arrow shaft. At this moment, several horses ran out of the distance, and the horses were eunuchs who went to announce the order. When the eunuchs saw Pei Xiao's arrow shot Li Qing'an, he was so scared that he shouted: "Stop!"

Pei Xiao shot an arrow, and he suddenly regretted it. Although he was reckless, he knew that Li Qing'an was not an ordinary person. Now the arrow fell on Li Qing'an's hands, which made him feel a little afraid. He didn't dare to say anything more and retreated aside.

The eunuch urged him to step forward and bowed to Li Qing'an, "Envoy Li, I will call you to see you under the order of the emperor."

Li Qingan shook the arrow and pointed at Pei Xiao and sneered: "This military master said that seeing him is like seeing the priest, so I don't have to enter the palace. I'm in a difficult situation now. Who is the priest?"

Pei Xiao's face changed drastically and he shouted, "Li Qing'an, you are slandering, when did I say this?"

Li Qingan glared, his eyes sharp, and he looked straight towards Pei Xiao, "Since that's the case, do you dare to confront the Gossip?"

The eunuch sighed in his heart. Pei Xiao was famously domineering and now he offended Li Qing'an. He quickly advised him kindly: "Why do you have to be as knowledgeable as him in the Envoy Li? Come with me to see the emperor!"

"Okay, I'll ask the Lord, who is this person? A small general of the Central Army can make the decision for the Lord."

After saying that, Li Qingan turned over and dismounted, threw the arrow on the ground, and said to several Yulin soldiers: "Routine business, come and search me!"

"No need!"

A few more horses ran away, and it was the general of Zuo Yulin Army, Sun Quanxu. He stepped forward and glared at Pei Xiao fiercely, and saluted Li Qing'an and said, "The general can take off his weapons. There will be a palace guard for the body search. Please follow me into the palace."

Changsun Quanxu arrived, Li Qing'an didn't want to leave anymore. He pointed at Pei Xiao and said, "This person was attacked by arrows and was killed according to military rules. General Changsun would not want to shelter this person, right!"

Changsun Quanxu had arrived long ago. Li Longji ordered him to find the person who detained the memorial in the court within one day, which made him extremely embarrassed. Of course, he knew that it was Pei Xiao's actions, but Pei Xiao was Yang Guozhong's brother-in-law, so he dared not offend him. He wanted to find a few Pei Xiao's men to come and take the blame, but he happened to see Pei Xiao shoot the arrow at Li Qing'an with his own eyes.

Changsun Quanxu reacted very quickly. He immediately realized that Li Qing'an was going to attack this matter. Of course, Li Qing'an was not targeting a small central general. Li Qing'an was targeting Yang Guozhong. Since that is the case, if he still arrested two minions according to his original plan, once Li Qing'an broke the matter, he might have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.

Although arresting Pei Xiao would offend the Yang family, the risk of not arresting Pei Xiao is greater. Moreover, Pei Xiao is a cancer inserted by Yang Guozhong in the Yulin Army. If it is not removed as soon as possible, the harm will be even greater in the future. Why don’t he take advantage of this opportunity to kill this person?

Changsun Quanxu quickly weighed the pros and cons in his heart, and he immediately decided to report to the emperor with reality. If the emperor still gave Pei Xiao lightly, then he would also want to drive this person out of the Yulin Army. Thinking of this, Changsun Quanxu immediately became furious and pointed at Pei Xiao and shouted: "Come on, arrest him for me!"

Immediately rushed up several Yulin soldiers, dragged Pei Xiao off the horse, tied up. Pei Xiao was so scared that his face was pale, and he shouted with an anxious voice: "You can't treat me like this, my brother-in-law is Yang Xiangguo."

Li Qingan suddenly realized, "Oh! It turns out that it was Yang Xiangguo instructed you to do it, so the problem will be serious. Go and explain to the emperor!"

He winked at Changsun Quanxu, then turned over and ran towards Huaqing Palace.

At the entrance of the palace, Li Qing'an turned over and dismounted and followed the eunuch to the palace. The palace was packing everything, and it was messy. He walked through a corridor. This was the connection between the inner palace and the outer palace. Li Longji's imperial study was on the edge of the inner palace.

At this moment, he suddenly heard Yang Guifei's voice, "Don't take these winter things away. I'll come to you at the end of the year, so I can't use it if I take them back, so I'll stay here!"

Li Qingan turned his head and saw in the side hall next to him, Yang Guifei was instructing several palace maids to pack up. Yang Guifei felt something and glanced at him, and happened to see Li Qingan.

A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, "General Li!"

She hurried forward and said, "General Li, when will you be back?"

Li Qing'an bowed and bowed, "I will meet the concubine."

"You are my master, don't be so polite, please be exempted from gifts!"

Li Qingan received a letter from Mingyue and knew that Yang Guifei was very caring for Mingyue. When she saw that she still remembered that she taught her to shoot arrows, she couldn't help but feel moved, and she smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern. I just arrived in Chang'an this morning, and Your Majesty happened to summon him."

Concubine Yang nodded and smiled, "Then you go and do your business first. I'll tell His Majesty later that you can stay for dinner."

"Thank you, I'll leave first."

Li Qingan turned around and followed the eunuch to the imperial study. Yang Guifei looked at his majestic back and couldn't help but sigh secretly, "Not bad! She has the momentum of a real man."

A quarter of an hour later, Li Qing'an walked into Li Longji's imperial study in Huaqing Palace. He respectfully bowed deeply, "My minister Li Qing'an met His Majesty the Emperor, I wish my Majesty long live His Majesty!"

Li Longji hadn't seen Li Qing'an for more than a year. He looked at Li Qing'an carefully and saw that he had become mature and more calm than before. He couldn't help but remember the situation when he fought with Shi Siming a few years ago. At that time, Li Qing was unrestrained and moved to Ruifei, with an aggressive aura, and now he has a more general style.

A gentle smile appeared in Li Longji's eyes, and he nodded and apologized: "General Li, I originally wanted to hold a city entrance ceremony for you, but due to some special circumstances, I am still in Huaqing Palace. I am very sorry!"

Li Qing'an bowed and said, "Your Majesty's gift is remembered by your Majesty's heart. When you enter the city, you think it can be placed in the future. After you recover Tochar for Your Majesty, you will wait for Your Majesty's favor."

Li Qing'an mentioned Tochar, which made Li Longji's spirit cheer up. He hurriedly said, "I'm just about to ask you, what are your plans for regaining Tochar?"

Li Qing'an had a slight silence in his heart. He smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I must first explain that the withdrawal of the Great Food from the River is not the result of my victory in the Battle of Talas."

"General Li, please continue, I will listen carefully."

"Your Majesty, Talas is located in the north of Shiguo, and is still a thousand miles away from Samarkand. If Dashi is willing to protect the river, they can continue to increase their troops. After a great war, I am eager to rest. But in fact, when I led my army to Samarkand, the Dashi army had all withdrawn. As far as I know, this is because the Sogdians broke out on a large scale, and the Umayyad dynasty made a comeback in the distant Spain, making the Dashi people unable to suppress the Sogdian uprising. They were forced to give up the river. But I asserted that in a year later, the Dashi army would definitely make a comeback. That was the beginning of the real battle between the Dashi and the Dashi army. Therefore, my plan for Tochar is to take the Tochar before Dashi attacks the River again, take down Tochar and threaten Khorasan from Tochar, so that they have worries and dare not attack the countries in the River."

After saying that, Li Qing'an took out the report of his ten thousand words and presented it to Li Longji, "Your Majesty, the detailed process of the Battle of Talas and all my plans are in the report. Your Majesty can read it in detail slowly."

The eunuch Yu Chaoen stepped forward to take the memorial and passed it to Li Longji. Li Qingan quickly glanced at the imperial study from the corner of his eyes. He felt a little strange, why did Gao Lishi disappear and turn into Yu Chaoen?

He didn't know that Gao Lishi had been sent by Li Longji to check the progress of returning to Chang'an. When Li Longji met Li Qing'an, he did not want Gao Lishi to be present.

At this time, Li Longji had already opened his performance report and was looking at Li Qing'an's handling of Sogdian countries after the war. He asked curiously: "What does this joint meeting mean in your report?"

Li Qing'an smiled and said, "Your Majesty, to put it simply, let Sogdian countries unite and deal with Dashi together, so as not to have their own thoughts and be defeated by Dashi each. The Hezhong area cannot rely entirely on the Tang army to fight Dashi, but mainly rely on themselves. In fact, the Anxi army not only needs to fight Dashi, but also prevent the invasion of Tubo and Uighurs. The front line is very long, so this time, my ministers returned to Chang'an to report their duties and wanted to make some suggestions to the court."

"Tell me, what advice do you have?"

"I have three suggestions!"

Li Qing'an quickly sorted out his thoughts: "The first is to hope that the court can move the Anxi Protectorate to Shauye, with Shauye as the center. This will not only control the Anxi Beiting, but also go south to Tocharo and west to Hezhong, taking into account the overall situation."

Li Longji pondered for a moment. Li Qing'an's plan to move westward to Anxi Protectorate should be said to be in line with the current situation and is feasible, but this matter still needs to be discussed in the Political Affairs Hall.

“What is the second suggestion?”

"Your Majesty, the second suggestion is to increase the immigration of Han people to the Western Regions. I think the reason why our Tang Dynasty could not control Lingxi for a long time is that there are basically no Han people in the other places except Shuye, which leads to these areas not having a centripetal force for the Tang Dynasty. On the contrary, if the Han people move west in large numbers, they will bring the culture of the Central Plains to Lingxi, so that Lingxi will gradually become sinic. In this way, our Tang Dynasty will be able to control the Western Regions for a long time, and there will be no worries about the centrifugal betrayal of small countries. At the same time, it can also alleviate the intensification of conflicts caused by land annexation in the middle."

Li Qing'an's last sentence touched Li Longji's worries. In the past one or two years, there have been endless incidents of farmers' rebellion due to land annexation. Land-lost farmers occupying mountains and becoming kings and becoming bandits have caused trouble in the court. If the conflicts in the Central Plains can be alleviated through immigration, this is a good idea. However, Yang Guozhong kept reminding him that he should not let the population controlled by Li Qing'an be too large, otherwise the troops he has will increase more rapidly, resulting in serious consequences.

Well, this matter was left to the Political Affairs Hall for discussion. He didn't want to ask too much, so Li Longji smiled and said, "What is the third thing?"

"Your Majesty, the third thing is a small matter. I beg Your Majesty to allow the circulation of silver and money in the Tang Dynasty. Although this matter is small, it is related to the vital interests of tens of thousands of soldiers in Anxi. I beg Your Majesty to consider it?"

"Why does it matter to the personal interests of the Anxi soldiers?" Li Longji asked with some surprise.

"Since His Majesty gave power to Anxi to mint coins to pay Anxi's rewards and military expenses, but in fact, there is very little copper material in Anxi, and up to 30,000 coins of copper coins were cast per year. The rewards His Majesty gave Anxi's army have reached 600,000 coins. In order to solve this problem, I decided to mint silver coins with higher value to pay the rewards. Lingxi has a lot of silver mines, and the silver production is much greater than copper. Therefore, I minted 30,000 coins of silver coins to pay the rewards. However, Anxi lacks supplies and has to come from the Central Plains through merchants. If these silver coins cannot be circulated in the mainland, merchants will not accept silver coins. In this way, the rewards in the hands of soldiers will become waste money, which will greatly affect morale. I had no choice but to beg Your Majesty to issue an order to release the circulation of money and silver coins in the Central Plains."

The issuance of the right to release the circulation of gold, silver and coins in the Central Plains was indeed a trivial matter for Li Longji. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, a batch of gold, silver and coins were cast, just to cooperate with the circulation of copper coins. However, because the amount was too small, it could not be circulated. What he is concerned about now is not the circulation of gold, silver and coins, but how much silver can Li Qingan pick in a year? Can he pay part of the imperial court every year?

"General, it is not a big problem to issue an order to release gold, silver and money, but I am worried that the amount is too small, so it is meaningless. I want to ask you, how many silver mines can Anxi be mined every year? Can you help solve the financial difficulties of the court?"

Li Longji's ideas were expected by Li Qingan, so he was of course willing to lose money to the Central Plains, thus gradually mastering the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, because Anxi is sparsely populated and has few miners, the annual production of silver refining is 150,000 to 200,000 kilograms. On the premise of ensuring military expenditure, I am willing to devote all the surplus silver to Your Majesty."

"How much is that? You have to tell me a correct number."

Li Longji was unambiguous in terms of money, and Li Qing'an made it clear that these silvers were given to him private money, so how could he not care about it?

"This time I returned to Beijing to report my duties, and specially brought His Majesty a large number of spoils, including 200,000 kilograms of silver. This is my wish to Your Majesty. In the future, I will pay 70,000 kilograms of silver to Your Majesty every year. If Your Majesty can immigrate to Anxi appropriately to increase the number of miners, I am confident that I will give Your Majesty a hundred thousand kilograms of silver every year."

Li Longji was overjoyed. Li Qing'an actually brought him 200,000 kilograms of silver. He quickly calculated in his mind that 100,000 kilograms of silver per year, the official price is equivalent to more than 1.6 million jin of copper coins. This is an amazing wealth. How could he not? However, it seems that it is not appropriate to let Li Qing'an control the source of this wealth. He should be sent by himself to control it.

After a change of mind, he had a certain plan. He asked Li Qingan to do it for a few years, develop the silver mine, and then take over it.

Thinking of this, Li Longji said happily: "I can reply to you now about the circulation of gold, silver and money. I will immediately order the Ministry of Revenue to issue an order to issue a national document."

At this time, a eunuch at the door reported: "Your Majesty, General Changsun asked for a meeting, and he said that the truth has been found out."

Li Longji hesitated for a moment. He didn't want Li Qing'an to know that someone deliberately intercepted the court memorial, which delayed the Anxi Army's entry into the city. However, when he changed his mind, he thought that Li Qing'an might have known about this. If he didn't make any gesture, he would really not be able to explain to the Anxi Army, well!

"Supreme him in!"

He apologized to Li Qing'an and said, "I just said that I delayed the Anxi Army's entry ceremony because someone dereliction of duty and missed the memorial sent by Minister Ji, which led to me not knowing that the general has arrived. I am strictly investigating the matter."

Li Qing knew it with peace of mind and hurriedly thanked: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

At this time, Changsun Quanxu walked in and bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have found out that it was Pei Xiao, the general of the Yulin Army, who neglected the memorials in the court, which caused the two memorials of Minister Ji to be sent to the emperor in time, delaying the Anxi Army's entry into the city."

Li Longji cursed inwardly and asked him to investigate. Why did he really bring Pei Xiao out? Isn’t this intention to embarrass himself?
To be continued...