After a moment, Di Wuqi rushed over. The imperial study room was too small and the five people seemed a little cramped. Li Yu moved to the next door. At this time, the left prime minister Pei Kuan came to ask for a meeting. Li Qing simply suggested that Li Yu summon Cui Huan, the Minister of Works, Fang Guan, the Minister of Rites, Pei Mian, the Minister of the Secretariat, and Zhang Yi, the Minister of the Secretariat, and others. In this way, several core officials of the Tang Dynasty held a joint meeting on recruiting troops.

Now there are only more than 20,000 people from the Anxi Army in Guanzhong. Although the most elite Youzhou cavalry in Anlushan in Luoyang has been wiped out, he defeated the Tang army twice and accepted many surrendered soldiers. In addition, he is also recruiting soldiers, Li Qing estimated that he already has more than 100,000 people.

Not only does it require an army to attack Anlushan, but also the troops in Hexi and Longyou are empty. If the defense is not deployed in time and the Tubo army takes advantage of the situation, the entire Western Region will be in danger, so recruiting troops has become the top priority.

The population of Guanzhong is millions, and the imperial court can control the population of Longyou, Hanzhong, and Yizhou. The number of soldiers is no less than ten million. The source of troops is not a problem. The key is money and grain. According to the plan of the Ministry of War, at least 300,000 soldiers are needed, of which 100,000 troops are distributed in the Western Regions, and 200,000 troops are used to deal with An Lushan. The current savings and food are far from enough.

The room was very quiet, and everyone was silent. Pei Kuan stood up. He was the oldest person here and the oldest. Although he was the left prime minister, he had no real power. The ruling affairs were written in Li Qing. He was so worldly and tried not to compete with Li Qing for power. However, since he was the left prime minister, if he was silent in everything, he would arouse the emperor's dissatisfaction. How to speak smoothly and not offend him on several sides is what he had to consider. He bowed to Li Yu and said, "Your Majesty! If it really doesn't work, wait a few more months. After the money and grain are put into the warehouse after the autumn is put into the warehouse, we can concentrate on handling the internal affairs first."

"No!" As soon as Pei Kuan finished speaking, Li Qing immediately expressed his objection. He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, if it takes a few more months to recruit troops, I am worried that An Lushan will take the opportunity to go south, open up the road to Jingxiang, and then advance east along the river and annex the Jianghuai River in one fell swoop. By then, our Tang Dynasty will be in danger! Furthermore, with the fertility of the land in Guanzhong, Your Majesty thinks how much money and grain will be put into the warehouse in the autumn?"

Everyone understood Li Qing's meaning. Guanzhong's land was fertile and fertile, and it was no problem to support tens of millions of people. However, since the late Kaiyuan period, the water transportation of the Central Plains and the Jianghuai River every year had to rely on the water transportation of the capital to maintain the expenses of the capital. The fundamental reason was that the land annexation was too serious. Guanzhong was a place where the powerful and noble royal family gathered. After a hundred years of land annexation, no one in ten farming farmers had left, so there was no tax to be collected. The salt tax was mainly concentrated in the Yangzhou area. Now the water transportation was cut off and there was no way to talk about it.

Now Li Qing hit the nail on the head. If An Lushan gave up Luoyang and went south, the problem would be really serious.

Indeed, the reason why An Lushan chose Luoyang to be emperor was mainly because of his personal preference, and he was also preparing to attack Chang'an with Luoyang as the base. If the situation changes drastically, Li Guangbi in the north conquered Youzhou and went south to seize Xiangzhou, opening up the passage between the Central Plains and Hebei. In addition, Guo Ziyi went south from Hedong and Anxi Army left Guanzhong, Luoyang would be attacked on three sides. At that time, An Lushan would most likely give up Luoyang and march towards the wealthy Jianghuai. Even if the rebellion could be suppressed in the future, the Tang Dynasty would suffer a heavy blow.

Just as everyone was thinking about their own thoughts, a sentence suddenly popped up in the room: "But now the court does not have money or food. Does the prime minister want to use his own property to recruit soldiers?"

Everyone was shocked and looked at the speaker together, but it was Zhang Yi, the assistant minister of the disciple. He saw him sneered and his eyes were full of disdain. Although it seemed ridiculous, everyone understood that he was referring to the property of the Yang family.

Li Qing was furious. If he had a normal opinion refuted, he would not care. But how could he allow it to be secretly thorny like this? However, Li Qing was not reckless. Zhang Yi was also an old minister. His mind should not be so simple. Besides, he had no grudges with him. Why did he dare to say such words? What is his purpose?

Li Qing quickly glanced at Li Yu, and saw that he was astonished at first, then a hint of praise appeared in his eyes. Li Qing couldn't help but sneer in his heart. What a shrewd speculator, now he has left the impression of not fearing power in the emperor's heart.

At this time, Li Mi immediately responded: "Mr. Zhang, don't talk nonsense. Li Xiangguo is right. The recruitment of troops cannot be delayed anymore. The Fifth Secretary, you are the Minister of Revenue, so why don't you talk about it?"

Wu Qi's face was expressionless, and he sat there motionless, as if he didn't hear anything. Li Mi's face suddenly turned red and was very embarrassed.

At this time, Li Qing stood up and bowed to Li Yu and smiled: "Your Majesty, I have a way to solve the urgent need for recruiting troops!"

Li Yu immediately sat upright, and he said anxiously: "Please speak with Li Xiangguo!"

Li Qing smiled slightly and said, "I am still the same old saying. In extraordinary times, we should use extraordinary methods. For the people of Guanzhong, what they need most is not money, but land. If the court can take out part of the land and exchange it for military service with the people, the court will sign a contract with them. For example, if a soldier in five years can be exchanged for twenty acres of land, the land can be rented for their families first. When the five-year period expires, the land will naturally belong to him. If the court unfortunately dies, the court will give their family an additional ten acres of land. In this case, as long as the court prepares food and does not spend a penny, the problem of recruiting soldiers will be solved. It turns out that the money for recruiting soldiers can also be used in other places, such as adding an incense burner to His Majesty's study. What's the point, Your Majesty, do you think this is good?"

"This..." Li Yu hesitated. Although Li Qing's method was good, the question was where the court had land? He seemed to understand something vaguely, but he couldn't figure it out for a moment, but Li Mi suddenly realized. Li Qing talked for a long time and said that recruiting soldiers was fake. His real purpose was to take the opportunity to open the gap to solve the land problem. Isn't this the unfinished career of Zhang Qiu Jianqiong back then?

It was as if he had unraveled the most critical trap. He had been unable to figure out one thing out, that is, why did Li Qing kill those royal families in the name of the rebels. It turned out that his purpose was that most of the land in Guanzhong was occupied by the royal family. In this way, it would be easy for him to take back these lands. Of course, this was just a gap, but once this opening was opened, it would lay the groundwork for him to solve the problem of land annexation in the future.

"Awesome! It's indeed much better than Zhang Qiu Jianqiong!" Li Mi praised twice, and he stared at the situation on the field without showing any expression.

"Dear friends, do you have any objections to Li Xiangguo's proposal?" Li Yu was unable to make a decision, so he threw this problem to everyone.

"Li Xiangguo wants to exchange land for soldiers, and his idea is good, but the imperial court no longer has a public field in Guanzhong. Could it be that Li Xiangguo wants to give them Anxi's land!"

Li Qing glanced at him and saw Zhang Yi, the assistant minister of the disciple, and he sneered softly and said, "Who said that the imperial court had no land? According to the rules of our Tang Dynasty, the land without a border belongs to the government. For example, the Minister of State Zhang is a third-rank official. According to the standard, it should be divided into ten hectares of land and twenty-five hectares of land by the rank of the Ministry of Revenue. However, the records of the Ministry of Revenue only granted 15 hectares of land, including five hectares of Gaoling County and ten hectares of Fenzhou, Hedong. However, according to the investigation of Zhang Qiu Xiangguo in the sixth year of Tianbao, the Minister of State Zhang had eight hectares of land in Gaoling County. According to Li Qing's understanding, the other three hectares of land must be pretending to be the name of Zhang Shu. Since it is an impersonation, it is a land without a border. Since it is a land without a border, the court can take it back and redistribute it. Zhang Shu, how could the court have no land?"

Zhang Yi's face turned red and white. Unexpectedly, Li Qing had mastered his old background so clearly. He was about to argue, but Li Qing waved his hand to stop him, "Mr. Zhang doesn't need to explain. Li Qing said just now that this is an extraordinary time. It should be used to use extraordinary methods. Li Qing will not move any land awarded by the court, but other than that, I will take back all of it. If I refuse or fight against the government, I'm sorry! I will all be used to requisition soldiers to reason with An Lushan."

Speaking of this, Li Qing turned to Li Yu and said, "Your Majesty, the Anxi army has few soldiers, and may not be able to support it for a long time. If the Tubo army attacks the Western Regions, or the Anlushan army invades Tongguan, it will be extremely dangerous, so this matter is very urgent. Please allow your Majesty to accept it."

At this time, Li Yu had fully understood what Li Qing meant. He also knew that Li Qing solicited his opinions to give face. Even if he was not accurate, he would forcefully seize land, or even use more vicious means. But it was accurate. I don’t know how many people he would offend. He was really embarrassed and couldn’t help looking at Li Mi. He saw him nodding slightly, meaning to persuade him to agree.

Li Yu was helpless and had to say to Li Qing: "Li Xiangguo will do this!"

Li Qing gave a long tribute and responded loudly: "I obey the order!"

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At the end of June of the 12th year of Tianbao, the grain in Guanzhong was in a hurry, and the official price had reached 800 cents per bull, but there was a price but no market. The price of grain in the black market had reached 1,500 cents per bull. For a moment, the people in Guanzhong were in a state of resentment, and the court immediately took a heavy blow, first banning the black market, and those who violated the order would be killed without mercy.

At the same time, the Ministry of Revenue took the lead in setting the upper limit of each household in Guanzhong area. The excess grain must be sold to the government. Violators will be severely punished and asked to issue four to encourage complaints. The complainants flocked to each other, some complained to the neighbors to dig up the land and some servants sued the owner to store grain in the farm.

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On the first day of July, the Anxi Army beheaded more than 300 hidden grain and rice and private rice sellers on Chang'an Street in public. At the same time, the Anxi Army went to various places to search the fields and found 300,000 stones of grain from the eight fields of the former King of Qing Li Cong. At this time, King Qing was dead. Li Qing then ordered the spies of King of Qing Li and Princess Qing to be killed and all their property was confiscated.

This incident caused a sensation. All the nobles in Chang'an heard the news. Those who handed over the grain were extremely enthusiastic. By July 10, the governments in various places collected more than three million stones of grain. Changping warehouses immediately transferred one million stones of grain to the market. The grain prices in Chang'an plummeted, and each rice was only worth hundreds of cents.

But the matter was not finished. In early July, the court ordered a re-verification of the land in Guanzhong. Li Qing started with some royal families and based on the information verified by Zhang Qiu Jianqiong that year, all land that exceeded his Yongye field and the special reward were taken to the government. All the royal families were gritting their teeth, but Li Qing still ordered the army to enforce it with a tough force, and thus obtained hundreds of thousands of hectares of land.

Li Qing immediately issued a recruitment order to exchange land for military service. Regardless of slaves, tenants, and self-cultivated farmers, they can register. Those who have been in military service for three years will receive ten mu of land, those who have been in military service for five years will receive twenty mu of land, and those who have been in military service for ten years will receive fifty mu of land. Among them, those who are willing to serve ten years of military service can also get rid of the slave family. Once hired, they can sign a contract on the spot to fulfill the land.

As the news spread, there were long queues of recruiting troops in various places, and countless applicants were enrolled, especially slaves such as ants, which had recruited 300,000 troops in half a month. Li Qing selected 80,000 strong troops from them to expand the Anxi Army.

Afterwards, Li Qing ordered the general Tian Zhen and the general Bai Xiaode to lead 50,000 people to Longyou and Hexi to garrison to prevent Tubo from invading the border.

In early August of the 12th year of Tianbao, Li Qing ordered the general Nan Jiyun to lead 20,000 troops out of Tongguan and pass through Shanzhou to Nanyang to prevent An Lushan from going south to capture Jingxiang; in September, Guo Ziyi led 50,000 Hedong Army and quietly advanced south from Taiyuan to cross the Yellow River in Lingbao, while Li Qing personally led a large army to seize Tongguan and ordered the general Li Siye to lead 50,000 Anxi Army to station in Shanzhou.
Chapter completed!