Chapter 334: Planning Hexi (2)

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Jiedushi only exercised power on behalf of the emperor for a long time. Although they were in charge of military offices of all sizes, they had no power and could be removed at any time. The power they had was not as good as that of local governors to some extent, and they were actually useless positions. However, since the 25th year of Kaiyuan, the court recruited "Long March athletes" from the mainland to guard the border, and took the lead in replacing the military system with the recruitment system in the border areas. The power of the Jiedushi gradually increased. After the eighth year of Tianbao, the court was no longer able to support the huge military expenditure of the border army. The Jiedushi began to try to support the army themselves. Until this time, the Jiedushi's power began to be unprecedentedly huge. Within the scope of their respective jurisdiction, the appointment and removal of each Jiedushi gradually became difficult.

At the same time, in order to compete for military resources and taxes and financial resources, their relationship became ambiguous and complicated. Among the rankings of the military governors, An Lushan ranked the largest and the strongest, and deservedly ranked first, followed by Longyou Jieshi, King Geshuhan of Xiping County, Geshuhan, and Geshuhan of An Lushan, which was a public secret of the court and the country. An Lushan could not stand Geshuhan's nouveau riche-like straight-up, while Geshuhan looked down on An Lushan's repeated defeats.

At the same time, Geshuhan was in disagreement with Hexi Jiedushi An Sishun. This was not because An Sishun was the clan of An Lushan, but that Hexi Jiedu and Longyou Jiedushi were one. It was like the upper, middle and lower reaches of a river. Anxi was the upper, middle and lower reaches of Hexi, Anxi was the upper, Hexi was the middle, and Longyou was the lower reaches. During the period of support from the court, everyone was in peace and interests, but eight years later, the governors of each Jiedushi had to support their own army, and the contradictions began to highlight. Hexi did not have the prosperity and population advantage of Longyou, nor did Anxi have great land and wealth. After An Sishun was appointed as the governor of Hexi, Hexi's large-scale plunder and even plunder of merchants traveling and returning seriously affected Geshuhan's personal interests. For this reason, he turned against An Sishun and even reached the point of fighting.

Geshuhan's report ended yesterday. Li Longji originally planned to summon him again today, but Li Linfu suddenly passed away and postponed his summoning. Geshuhan had to stay at home and drink in depressed mood to pass the time. It happened that his foot disease had to be recurred in the past two days, causing him to be in peace day and night.

Like all the generals of the border, Geshuhan also has his own house in Chang'an, and his wife and daughter are all in Chang'an. At this moment, Geshuhan was lying on the bed of arhat and soaking his feet with medicine. Two concubines massaged his foot acupoints on the left and right. Although his slender hands were as delicate as white fat, his foot pain made him unlucky. This general who fought in the army killed people like numb, but could not survive his own illness.

At this time, the door was knocked gently, and the butler said softly outside the door: "Prince, there are guests visiting outside the door."

Hearing that Brother Shuhan did not respond, he hesitated for a moment and said, "It is Li Qing, the governor of Anxi. Should I let him come back another day?"

"He is leaving tomorrow. What's the next day? Please wait in my study. Oh! Be gentle...."

The two concubines carefully wiped his feet dry, helped him up, and pulled his wrinkled hem. One concubine said, "Master, please change your clothes!"

Ge Shuhan waved his hand tiredly, "Forget it, they are all people who eat wind and sand, what else should I pay attention to? Just help me go."

The two concubines helped Ge Shuhan limp and walked slowly. After a turn, they reached the entrance of the study room. The housekeeper had invited Li Qing into the room. Through the faint crack in the door, Ge Shuhan saw Li Qingzheng standing in front of the bookshelf and bent down to observe his collection of books. He felt a little proud. Although he was a Hu man, he loved military books and had a wide range of knowledge. No one was right except for his old boss Wang Zhongsi.

"If you like it, I can lend it to you."

Geshuhan pushed open the door and advised him in the tone of his senior, "Although you have won a few battles, it is because the enemy is not strong. If you meet a real strong player, you may not have such good luck. You are serious when you are young and read more military books."

He nagged and said something, Li Qing laughed silently. He heard that Ge Shuhan is a good teacher for a long time. It seems to be true today. He turned around and bowed to Ge Shuhan for a long time, and smiled and said, "Mencius said, it is better to have no books than to believe in books. There are many people in Chang'an who are full of knowledge, and may they walk at night with a knife like Ge Shu?"

Geshuhan felt relieved when he heard this, and couldn't help but raise his head and laugh. Unexpectedly, he laughed too much and then pulled his feet to hurt. His face changed for a moment. Geshuhan groaned and fell into the chair. The pain made the sweat roll down his forehead and his face twisted and deformed.

Li Qing was shocked and said to him anxiously: "Since Prince Geshu is not in good health, then Li Qing will visit Longyou next time, and he will take the liberty today."

After saying that, he bowed his hand and was about to leave. Ge Shuhan grabbed him, shook his head, signaling that it would not be inconvenient, and pointed to the chair and asked him to sit down. After a while, the pain slightly diminished. He let out a long sigh and said, "I will die on this foot one day."

Then he waved his hand and ordered his concubine to retreat. After a while, the pain completely disappeared. Geshuhan then said to Li Qing: "I was just thinking about looking for you to come to the palace tomorrow. An Sishun's guy is getting more and more excessive. It won't take long to get the trade between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions to be destroyed in his hands."

This is also the purpose of Li Qing coming to find Ge Shuhan. He had just come out of Prince Qing's mansion. King Qing was beaten and pulled by him. Finally surrendered and agreed to go to Yang Guozhong immediately, but he wanted to persuade Li Longji to let him replace An Sishun and serve as the governor of the two towns of Anxi and Hexi. Yang Guozhong alone is not enough. He must give another force, at least drag An Sishun down first. The person Li Qing thought of was Ge Shuhan.

"The Prince Geshu said very well. It was a common thing to take taxes from merchants. The key was to have a long-term vision and not to fish out the waters. In this way, the trade caravans would be in a row and endlessly. But An Sishun wanted to kill the caravans and killed them all. Sooner or later, they would force the caravans to the northern line and go around the desert to Hebei. In this way, all three of us would have no tax to collect."

Speaking of this, Li Qing moved his body slightly and whispered: "I came today to discuss with you how to ensure the safety of the migrants in the west. What I worry most about is the Hexi section. You and I understand that the so-called horse bandit is actually Qiao Bao, who sent someone from An Sishun. I have already told the emperor about this matter, but he doesn't believe it very much. So I want to ask Prince Geshu to mention this matter by the way when he was summoned by the emperor. With this person there, both Anxi and Longyou are not at peace."

Geshuhan smiled but did not answer. He gently pinched his instep, as if he was thinking about something. After a long time, he smiled and said slowly: "Longyou is densely populated and rich in grain, but there are not many horses. Hexi is sparsely populated, with fresh grain, but abundant water and grass. It has been a place for horse breeding since ancient times. In fact, these two places are one, and you are long and I am short, which can complement each other. Therefore, the governors of Longyou and Hexi have always served as one person. This is why...

Ge Shuhan said while twisting his whisper, looking at Li Qing. Li Qingyao understood what he meant, and the two places were one. After talking for a long time, Ge Shuhan was also trying to fight Hexi. It must be because he was not easy to mention this matter, so he made up his own ideas and asked him to recommend him, but his deeper idea might be to prevent himself from competing with him!

Li Qing sneered in his heart, but laughed on his face: "The heroes see each other, if Geshu can sit in Hexi, it is a blessing for me to move westward to the people, and Li Qing would have no worries in Dayuan."

Speaking of this, he stretched out a palm and smiled at Geshuhan, "Let us drive An Sishun away together. I will write a letter to recommend the Duke to be the governor of Hexi."

Geshuhan was overjoyed. He had already made a secret agreement with King Yong and would Pei Kuan recommend him to serve as the governor of Hexi. If Li Qing recommends him, he would remove one of the most powerful competitors and let him cooperate with him to get rid of An Sishun. It can be said that he would kill two birds with one stone. As long as An Xi and Longyou were both dissatisfied with An Sishun, Li Longji would transfer An Sishun away no matter what.

He stretched out his right palm and hit Li Qing hard. The two of them looked at each other, and they both laughed with ulterior motives.

Li Qing left the house before dawn. He was busy all day and didn't even have lunch. When he got home, it was already dark and he was about to leave Beijing tomorrow. He originally agreed not to go anywhere when he came back at noon and stayed at home with his wife and daughter, but when things happened suddenly, he could only count the things he promised.

But when he walked to the gate, Li Qing unexpectedly found that a gorgeous carriage was parked in front of Yang Guozhong's mansion opposite. Several family members stood next to him met at Li Cong's mansion at noon. He smiled knowingly. I guess King Qing was trying to persuade Yang Guozhong at this time!

"The master is back!"

Several families who were looking forward to the door shouted and ran into the house. Li Qing couldn't stop him. After a while, a group of women rushed towards him angrily.

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As Li Qing guessed, King Qing Li Cong was desperately persuading the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty in Yang Guozhong's study. He did not mention that he was caught by Li Qing again, but was just analyzing the current situation with him.

"The emperor's right-hand minister should know better than me. I heard that there are still five years left. He actually knew that he had not had much time, so he suddenly pushed me out. But this does not mean that I will definitely enter the Eastern Palace. There are enough lessons in the past. Each prince is eyeing him and has his own supporters. On the matter of becoming a crown prince, the emperor will inevitably widely seek the opinions of all officials. If Li Qing can support me, he will not only get a strong foreign aid, but also the former subordinates of the Qiu Party and the Ministry of Revenue, which will be the leader of others...."

Although Li Cong was very polite, Yang Guozhong couldn't raise any interest. After all, it was his advantage, so what did he have to do with him? Besides, Li Qing had a deep hatred with him, but now he wanted to recommend him to serve as the governor of Hexi. This is really a bit difficult. In fact, he was willing to help King Qing, mainly because he couldn't save face.

He was a little annoyed when he heard this. Yang Guozhong covered his mouth and yawned, and smiled apologetically at King Qing, "It's better for us to have dinner first and then continue talking after dinner."

Seeing that Yang Guozhong was ambiguous, Li Cong obviously refused to agree to him. He immediately became extremely angry. He almost broke the bank and bribed his Yang family. At the critical moment, he refused to help. Li Cong really wanted to say the threat from Li Qing, but every time he said something to his mouth, he swallowed it again.

He walked a few steps behind his back, and suddenly said, "It must be Yang Guozhong who thinks he is not good, so he is reluctant to express his opinion." Thinking of this, he smiled coldly and said to Yang Guozhong: "As the saying goes, the prime minister can hold a boat in his stomach, and the right prime minister has always been rebellious against Li Qing. If the emperor knows, he will say that you do not have the elegance of being the prime minister. On the contrary, if you two reconcile, it will become the 'coordination of the generals and prime ministers' of my Tang Dynasty; furthermore, you have turned against An Lushan. If you get into a feud with Li Qing again, it is really unwise to be attacked again. I think the best way is to win over one side and attack the other."

"Okay, stop talking!" Yang Guozhong stood up suddenly and interrupted him impatiently, "If you really want to do this, I will help you once for your sake, but I want to remind you that Li Qing is insidious and cunning, and you must not be fooled by him."

Li Cong was overjoyed and asked quickly, "When will you go and talk?" He was worried about the land contract and the body contract. If the time was delayed for a long time, he would probably have a long night and dreams.
Chapter completed!