After sending Li Moyun to contact the Cao Gang, Li Ling also submitted a letter directly and submitted his thoughts to the court for approval.

Although he had the right to engage in cheap work from the beginning, and as long as it was conducive to transporting grain to the front line, he could take action first and report it. However, this matter was still too bold and completely surpassed the court's perception, and even Li Ling did not dare to make a decision completely.

Moreover, after the Cao Gang really arrived, he had to take over the grain from the grain transport team. Without the approval of the court, how could he hand over the grain resources?

Li Ling also thought that the incident would cause controversy when it arrived in the capital, but he did not expect that the criticism caused was quite large. When the officials in the court learned about this, the memorials of impeaching him for personal gain went straight into the palace like snowflakes. Some even asserted that Li Ling's arrangement was clearly to embezzle a large amount of official food and materials.

At this time, Li Ling and King Ying were not in the court, so they could only rely on Wei Liang, Wen Ming and others to help with the pressure. Although they also had reservations about Li Ling's strategy, since Li Ling had made the matter public and obviously had made up their minds, they could only work hard to maintain and speak for him.

Fortunately, the emperor was quite supportive this time, and Wang Han, the newly promoted prime minister, also agreed, and this matter was finally implemented. However, the court also mentioned one thing in the passage of allowing the Cao Gang to take over the grain - once there is a mistake in the Cao Gang's hands, not only will the Cao Gang be punished, but Li Ling will also be severely punished.

When Li Ling received this message in mid-October, he was not at all unhappy or worried. Instead, he smiled at Wan Lang who had just arrived and said, "At least there are still many people in the court who are sensible, otherwise the food will be delayed on the road, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

Wan Lang has been running around for many years, and has long since lost his frivolity and seems calm and wise. But at this moment, after listening to Li Ling's words, he also showed worries: "Can you really trust the Cao Gang so much? Although the leader of the Yang Gang is your brother-in-law, the problem is that the Cao Gang is mixed with dragons and snakes. Once someone has to think about it and swallow the food, you will be very responsible..."

"I know. It is impossible for everyone in the Cao Gang to take the overall situation into consideration or be completely loyal to their own gang leader, but as long as more than 80% of the people can do it, it is enough. As for the remaining 20%, I can accept the loss of food they swallowed." Li Ling's answer stunned Wan Lang.

Seeing this, he smiled again: "Why, after doing business for so many years, don't you understand the reason why water is clear and there is no fish? Only when they get benefits can they work hard for me. And I believe that my elder brother will arrange all this properly. After all, if you follow the previous method of transporting grain, not only will the speed be much slower, but the loss will only be greater than this."

Wan Lang thought about it carefully and it was reasonable. The food transported by the people all the way north, the food consumption of the people was naturally taken from the food transported. The longer they delayed, the greater the consumption, and the more people came, the consumption would continue to increase. In comparison, transporting grain by ships can minimize these losses.

After understanding Li Ling's intention, Wan Lang couldn't help but admire: "You are still thinking deeply, no wonder you can get to this point today. By the way, why did you ask me to put down your business and come here for?"

As the business of Zongheng Commercial Bank continues to expand, Wan Lang's responsibilities are becoming heavier and he will be the one who decides all major and minor matters. Before, he was able to run around and open up new markets, but in the past two years, he has had to stay in Luoyang. This time, he came to Youzhou after receiving Li Ling's letter.

He just saw Li Ling and wanted to ask, but the court documents arrived first and put the topic on this more important matter. At this time, the previous topic came to an end, and he was concerned about what he could do here.

Li Ling smiled and said, "I'm going to ask you to come, it's naturally related to my current errand. The Cao Gang relied on their boat to deliver the grain to Youzhou, but then transported the grain from Youzhou to the north and then could not rely on them. Although I still have 10,000 or 20,000 civilians under my command, it is obvious that they can't deliver the materials safely and quickly, so I thought of you."

"Me? What can I do?" Wan Lang said with some confusion. He really didn't realize what role he, a businessman, could play in such a military and national affairs.

"Don't belittle yourself. You have traveled all over the years for business, but you have not led hundreds or thousands of people to transport goods thousands of miles."

Li Ling's words finally made Wan Lang understand: "You asked me to take the civilians and military officials and other soldiers deep into the grasslands of the northern desert?" To be honest, if Li Ling hadn't spoken seriously, he wouldn't believe that this was true, "I'm just a small businessman. If I want power but no power, I have no identity, can they listen to me?"

"I said you have it, so you will have it naturally." Li Ling smiled, then took out a ball of dragon puppet from his arms and placed it in front of the other party. "This is what the emperor gave me at the beginning. Holding this jade puppet is like the emperor's personal visit. No matter whether he is a general in the army or a senior local official, he must obey the orders."

"You, are you telling the truth?" Wan Lang's heart beat faster as he looked at the ball of dragon pendant.

"You haven't thought that once you truly glorify your ancestors, you can take a few more steps to the Wan family? Now, relying on you, Wan family's money is enough, and you are a big shot in Hengzhou. But what I told you is that after all, it's just businessmen, officials or gentry, you may not really respect you.

"But once you make great contributions to the court this time, I will report it to you and give you a fourth- and fifth-rank official. Even if you do not have a solid real power, it will be enough for your ten thousand families to stand firm in Hengzhou and even the Lianghuai River. In addition, you will not be moved by the reputation you have created for this?"

"Who said I was not moved?" Wan Lang immediately shouted, "To be honest, I have traveled to many places over the years, and even visited the northern border, but I didn't go to the Mobei grassland for a long time. I really wanted to see what the scenery there was.

"I've taken this errand. Isn't it just to take the team to send food and other things to the front line? You marked the route on the map, which is not too difficult for me."

Li Ling smiled easily, and he knew that with Wanlang's temperament, he would take on this difficult errand. Not only because he has not changed his habit of taking risks and loving new things over the years, but also because of the friendship between them. He naturally would not refuse if he asked him to do things by himself.

"But you have to figure out one thing. If you really enter the grassland, it is dangerous and unpredictable. Guirong people are not that easy to talk to." Li Ling couldn't help but remind him while being moved.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be controlled by anyone. I used to go shopping everywhere and deal with those green forest bandits a lot. The Guirong people on the grassland thought they were no different from them, they were just robbers." Wan Lang laughed, "What's more, I have a lot of government troops to protect me this time, so why are you afraid of them?"

"Then, I'll ask you everything!" Li Ling said, and stood up and bent down to worship Wan Lang. This time, Wan Lang did not dodge or give a gift, but received this bow, and then he clasped his fists and said, "I will definitely live up to your entrustion!"

Li Ling smiled and looked at each other. The two of them looked at each other. A promise between brothers was enough.

Since he promised Li Ling to help him transport grain to the grassland, Wan Lang did not dare to be negligent anymore and immediately began to prepare in advance. On the one hand, he drew the people he could use from all over the place. Although this would affect the business of the entire business, the overall situation was the priority and he could not take care of it. On the other hand, he was more detailed in understanding the various situations of the grassland in the northern desert, from geography to climate, to the distribution and characteristics of the grassland divisions, all of which had a considerable impact on the subsequent grain transportation.

There may not be many other talents in Youzhou City, but in terms of familiarity with the grassland, there are many talents in this field. Under Li Ling's instruction, all official or unofficial people are willing to answer questions for Wan Lang.

After half a month, the food and grass that were delayed halfway through the journey were finally transported from water to Youzhou as Li Ling wished.

This time, the Cao Gang really put a lot of effort into it. Not only Yang Qinghou led the team himself, he mobilized almost all the available ships and personnel in the Cao River, but even the Jianghu Gang, which was not part of the Cao Gang, was persuaded by him to come and help.

In addition, a large number of strong men and others on the Caohe River have all helped, and the speed of transporting grain from the north is faster than expected, and the loss is less. At most, only 10% of the grain is eaten along the way. Compared to letting the government use civilians to transfer the goods, it will save a lot of money.

At this point, a large amount of food was in place, and Li Ling no longer delayed it. He immediately asked Wanlang to take a team of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of civilians to transport more than 100,000 stones of food out of the northern border, and followed the familiar roads that had already been opened up, and followed the direction of the main army.

Li Ling knew that the first journey was actually quite easy to walk. Not only was the Guirong people scared away from the northern border, but they also set up grain station outposts every twenty or thirty miles, just like the grain transport routes in various parts of the Central Plains.

However, after entering the grassland for 300 miles, the difficulty will increase sharply. Not only will they fight against the harsh weather environment, but they also have to guard against the attacks of the Guirong cavalry. However, he believes that with Wanlang's experience in business is enough to deal with all kinds of troubles.

What he had to do next was to continue to raise more food and fodder, and after Wanlang and his team opened up a suitable path, they continued to transport the things to the front line, and then waited for the results to appear!
Chapter completed!