Chapter 390: The Army's Strike

The next morning, Li Qing'an came to Anxi Political Affairs Hall. The Political Affairs Hall is a general term for a group of huge buildings. Corresponding to the six ministries of the court, six cadres including officials, households, rites, soldiers, punishments, and labours were established. There were also nine departments including finance, taxation, prisons, military weapons, officials, minting, Chongwen, Religion, and craftsmen, as well as the two government offices of supervision and internal affairs, forming a complete administrative supervision system with more than 200 officials at all levels. The highest military and political officer was of course the Jiedushi Li Qing'an, but the highest administrative officer was Wang Changling, the chief of the Jiedushi, and there were also the judge Cen Shen, who was responsible for auditing and interrogating, as well as two directors and two judges, as assistants to Wang Changling and the judge.

Li Qing'an's office court room is next door to the Zhengshi Hall, called Qinzhengyuan. It was originally a fully enclosed courtyard with high security. However, it was adjusted a few months ago and a straight and wide driveway was built to the Zhengshi Hall. It originally took at least a quarter of an hour for documents on both sides, but now it can be conveyed in just one cup of tea.

The news of Li Qing'an's return has spread. Early in the morning, more than a dozen officials and soldiers of the Qinzhengyuan were busy cleaning the rooms. The officials of the Qinzhengyuan were different from those of the Zhengshi Hall. The officials of the Zhengshi Hall belonged to the formal local officials and were appointed by the Ministry of Personnel in principle. Of course, it was actually just a formal appointment. The officials of the Qinzhengyuan were non-staff members, and were actually Li Qing'an's personal aides, who paid their salary out of their own pockets. Most of these aides were well-educated, mainly responsible for sorting out documents and writing various orders of Li Qing'an, which was somewhat similar to the Hanlin Bachelor of the imperial court, among which Yan Zhuang was the chief aide.

When Li Qing'an stepped into his bright and spotless room, the staff had already started a busy day. Two senior officials from the Political Affairs Hall, Wang Changling and Cen Shen, had been waiting for him in the outside room for a long time.

"See General!" When the two saw Li Qing'an coming in, they bowed and bowed together.

"Long time no see you two. It seems that Wang Changshi has gained a little weight! Have you been relatively idle recently?"

Li Qing'an joked with the two intimately, and Wang Changling smiled and said, "It's the general who has become dark and thin. I heard that the place where Xinde is hot and the sun is poisonous."

At this time, Cen Shen saw Liu Yan following Li Qingan, and was slightly stunned. He felt familiar and seemed to have seen him somewhere?

"General, this one is..."

"I'll introduce it to you!"

Li Qing'an quickly pulled Liu Yan over and introduced to the two: "This is my new aide Liu Yan, Liu Shi'an, Caozhou, was originally an order from the Changping Office of the West City. He has resigned from his official position and came to Anxi to join me."

"You are the magician Liu Yan!"

Cen Shen suddenly recognized him, known as the number one primitive calculation in Taifu Temple. When Liu Yan saw that he recognized him, he quickly smiled and replied, "It's just that."

Li Qingan smiled and introduced the two of them to him and said, "They have been following me for many years. One is Wang Changling, the chief of the Jiedu Palace. He is known as Wang Zhanniu. His poems are well written. You should have heard of them!"

Liu Yan was solemnly respected, "It turned out to be Mr. Yuhu. I heard of the famous name for a long time when I was young. I will meet you today and I have the honor of my three lives."

When Wang Changling heard his words very sincere, he couldn't help but feel good about him. He also smiled and said, "I seem to have heard of Liu Jun's name. In the 14th year of Kaiyuan, the late emperor conferred Mount Tai. There was a young prodigy who was awarded the title of "Ode to the Song" and was awarded the title of Zheng of the Secretariat. But are you?"

Liu Yan waved his hand and smiled embarrassedly: "Young and frivolous, I've made you laugh at me."

At this time, Liu Yan suddenly recognized Cen Shen and said in surprise: "It turns out to be Brother Cen, we have seen him!"

"Not bad! We were sitting in the same seat in the Chengtianmen Banquet in the fifth year of Tianbao? Later, we went to Qujiangliu to drink and write poems. If you couldn't write the poem, you would get drunk and slip away on the excuse of being drunk. I can remember it."

When the two talked about the past seven years ago, they couldn't help but feel like meeting an old friend in a foreign land. They were so excited that they held hands and laughed.

Seeing that everyone was familiar with each other, Li Qingan couldn't help but laugh: "It turns out that they are all old acquaintances, that's the best."

He said to Wang and Cen again: "Liu Yan is my staff for the time being, and is responsible for planning Anxi money and goods for me. Next month, he will be the order of the Finance and Taxation Bureau and will also be the transfer envoy of Anxi."

Seeing that Li Qing'an trusted him so much, Liu Yan was deeply moved and hurriedly gave a deep bow, "Thank you for your trust, Liu Yan will do his best to serve Anxi."

Li Qing'an nodded and said to Wang and Cen, "You go to the conference room to wait for me first. I'll arrange Mr. Liu and come soon."

"Sir, please follow me."

Li Qing'an took Liu Yan to the next room. The next room was a large room, a study room, with five or six staff members sorting out documents here. He swept around but did not see Yan Zhuang, and asked, "Where is Mr. Yan?"

One of them stood up and saluted, "Report to the General, Mr. Yan went to Helicheng School to investigate the military rations and returned in the afternoon."

When Li Qing'an saw that the person who answered him was Yan Kai, the aide of King Qing, he was stunned. Yan Kai hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and whispered: "General, I left King Qing a year ago. I have been teaching for a living by Shaye and have been living in poverty. I accidentally met Mr. Yan on the street, and Mr. Yan arranged for me to come here to do things."

Li Qingan remembered that when he first met Yan Kai in Yangzhou, he was full of energy at that time, but now he is in a low-key manner and is a minor official who organizes documents. This strong gap made him feel moved, so he nodded and said, "Okay! Stay by my side. When you have the opportunity, I will arrange another position for you to express your talent."

Yan Kai was overjoyed. The reason why he swallowed his anger here was to be a minor official was to wait for the opportunity to meet Li Qing'an. Although Li Qing'an did not openly let himself be a counselor, he also admitted that he had talent, so that he would have the opportunity to stand out.

He hurriedly gave a deep bow, "I am willing to serve the general."

Li Qingan comforted him a few more words, then turned to Liu Yan and said, "I originally wanted to let the teacher see my adviser Yan Zhuang, but he went out. Let's talk about it in the afternoon! Mr. will sit here first."

Li Qing'an found an empty seat for him to sit on, and ordered people to bring various financial and tax reports from Anxi, which were thick and thick, and there were four treasures of the study.

"Sir, look at me slowly. If you have any questions, come to me. I'm next door, so there's no need to be polite."

Liu Yan bowed and said, "Even if the general is busy, I will arrange myself."

Li Qing'an told others a few more words before walking back to the conference room. Duan Xiushi also came at this time. Duan Xiu became the deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu, the governor of Suoyezhou, and to the Yibohai Castle in the north, all of which were his jurisdiction. He is now Li Qing'an's confidant and the third person in the Anxi military.

Seeing Li Qingan coming in, the three of them stood up together. Li Qingan waved his hand and smiled, "Don't be polite, be more casual."

Several people sat down, the personal soldiers served tea, and closed the door again. At this time, Wang Changling smiled and said, "General, before the official meeting, I have a reform plan to report it first."

Duan Xiushi and Cen Shen looked at each other. Both of them were too big. Wang Changling kept saying three words to reform. The officials of the Political Affairs Hall were already scared by him. I wonder what tricks he had come up with today. Li Qing'an smiled and said, "When I introduced you to Liu Yan just now, I should have asked you to Wang Reform. Tell me, what old methods are there to change?"

"Don't frown like this, I mean it's easy, it's not a reform."

Wang Changling glared at Duan Xiushi and Cen Shen, and said to Li Qing'an: "It's not about reform, it's about road construction."

“Build the road!”

Li Qingan was very interested and smiled and said, "Tell me about it specifically, what roads should I build?"

"Actually, this is not a sudden idea. A few years ago, both merchants and military officials proposed to build two straight roads, starting from the Shaye Leaf, one leads to Beiting City and the other leads to Kucha. This will greatly save time to travel to the two places and closely link Beiting, Anxi and Lingxi. In the past, there was not enough money, grain and manpower, but now the conditions are ripe and construction can be started."

As soon as Wang Changling finished speaking, Li Qing'an and the other two applauded at the same time. Li Qing'an smiled and said, "I will approve this plan now. If the manpower is insufficient, I can ask Li Guangbi to escort a group of Tocharian prisoners of war to work as laborers, ask for money and people to give it to people. I just need you to start work as soon as possible."

It has always been Li Qing'an's wish to build straight roads to connect the shattered leaves with Beiting and Anxi. As he occupied more and more land, it was imminent to build roads to strengthen the connection between regions. He fully agreed with Wang Changling's road construction case.

They decided on the spot about this matter. After talking about the road construction, the meeting officially began. Li Qing'an said: "I will tell you about the Southern Expedition first. Li Guangbi has written a report on the Battle of Tocharo. I believe you have seen it, so I won't say much. I will talk about the Battle of Faith in detail."

Li Qing'an took a sip of tea and continued: "From the overall situation, there is no suspense in the Battle of Sindhi. The Dashi Army and our troops are very different. It is fortunate that they can escape back to Dashi. As for the local troops of Sindhi and Punjab, they are even more vulnerable. I almost ignore it. Our purpose in this Battle of Sindhi is for food. Now preliminary statistics are based on the fact that Sindhi alone has six million stones of grain in stock."

Wang Changling exclaimed, "Six million stones are enough for five years for us to eat Anxi."

Li Qing'an smiled, "Sinde is a place where grain is abundant, and the yield is very high. If we occupy Sindde, there will be at least two million stones of grain per year. In this way, we can transfer more Anxi people to the workshop to work, so that the court cannot block us. And I plan to establish a harbor in Punjab to provide our estuary."

"But what should I do if the road is long?" Duan Xiushi said in a flash: "You should know that from Punjab to Broken Leaf, there are at least a few thousand miles, and the road is difficult, I don't think it's very realistic."

"I have considered this point. There is no problem with the hinterland of Xinde in the heart of Xinde. The most difficult road to go from the north to Tochar is only a few hundred miles. Xinde has a lot of hard-working labor, so they can help them build this section of the road. As long as these hundreds of miles are built, at least half of the time can be saved, just as Wang Changshi said just now, building roads is beneficial to the practice."

"What does the general want the harbor to do?" Cen Shen suddenly asked.

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "It is used for overseas trade. Maybe one day in the future, I will take a boat to the Tang Dynasty."

Speaking of this, there was no need to continue talking. At this time, Wang Changling brought the topic to another discussion today.

"General, although the Hexi Incident has ended, we need to give the court a statement to express Anxi's position on the Hexi matter. This matter needs to be decided by the general."

Li Qingan pondered for a moment and asked, "What do the officials have to do?"

"The officials of the Political Affairs Hall have had a debate on this matter. Many officials believe that although the court took back the Gan and Su prefectures, the court still admitted that these two prefectures belong to Anxi, but we are no longer controlled by us. Everyone believes that the court did not break up, but just used cold tricks behind the scenes, and we could not protest at all, so most officials think that it is best to remain silent. I wonder if the general agrees?"

Li Qingan did not answer, and he asked Duan Xiushi again: "What is the military's attitude?"

"Win a war and take back Gansu and Suzhou!" Duan Xiushi answered neatly, "The soldiers' attitude is very simple."

Li Qing'an nodded and said, "I have also repeatedly considered this matter. We are about to face the strong counterattack of Dashi. In the next six months, our strategic center will still be in the West, not in the East. If we compete with the court, it will undoubtedly affect our preparation for war to a large extent. So my attitude is very clear. We must make every effort to prepare for war with Dashi."

Li Qing'an's statement was a little vague. Should he fight or remain silent? The three of them looked at each other and Cen Shen asked carefully: "What the general means to recognize the imperial possession of Gansu and Suzhou, do you keep silent?"

"Why keep silent?"

Li Qingan sneered and said, "There is a kind of person in this world. If you treat him well, he thinks that you are pleasing him. He is afraid of him. He will not remember his kindness. If you are weak, he will bully you even more and beat you up more. On the contrary, if you act tough and beat him hard, he will be afraid and will not dare to cause trouble for you again. Unfortunately, our young emperor is just such a person. I support him and block An Lushan's army for him in Tongguan. But not only does he not remember his kindness, he not only does not kill An Lushan, nor does he attack King Wu, King Jing, and King Shu, nor does he fight these people who openly become enemies with him. The first person to attack is me, just because I am easy to bully?"

Speaking of this, Li Qing'an stood up and decisively said: "I can not trade with the Central Plains, nor can I send a piece of silver dollar to the Central Plains. However, as the governor of Anxi, I do not accept Cheng Qianli as the deputy envoy of Anxi. Meng Yun and Luo Zhengyi led the army to mutiny and plotted to murder their superiors. Without my order, they transferred the army without authorization and were killed according to military rules. The court must hand over the heads of these two thieves to the Anxi army. Otherwise, I will lead troops into the capital and personally take the heads of these two thieves. This is my attitude."

Wang Changling was shocked and quickly advised: "General, you must not do this. In this way, the general will make a rebellion and will destroy the general's reputation."

Duan Xiushi also advised: "General, you must think twice about this matter and not be reckless. After all, he is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. If the general is below the superior, he will fall into injustice."

Seeing the three of them nervous, Li Qingan smiled and said, "I am the King of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty, the governor of Anxi, and have been intriguing for so many years. Do you even understand this principle? I said, we must concentrate on preparing for the Great Food now, and I will not send troops to attack Hexi."

"What the general means..."
Chapter completed!