Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 167
Ximen Zhongsui sat in his garden, brewing a pot of tea with his own hands.

It's not that there are no servants, it's actually Ximen's own hobby, which is euphemistically called "cultivating sentiment".

The tea is produced in Lingzhou.

Wu Yuanheng once wrote a poem: "Under the blue rocks in Lingzhou, the catkins are fragrant at the beginning. It is like sleeping dew, and the basket is not full." It is about the tea produced in Lingzhou. It sounds incredible, but it will be warm. In the wet season, Huazhou Xiaohuashan produces a huge amount of tea, occupying a large market in Guanzhong. The climate in Lingzhou is better than that of Xiasui Yinyou, so it is not surprising that tea is produced.

In fact, Hengshan may be able to produce tea, but it is the territory of the party members, and no one has ever tried it.

The imperial court is really difficult now.If you want money but no money, if you want food but no food, most of the Shence Army are recruits recruited in the middle of Shu, and their combat strength is worrying.

Ximen Zhongsui had been the prisoner of the northern camp when he was fighting for Huangchao, and he had been in charge of the Shence Army for a long time, with a professional vision.In his opinion, the combat effectiveness of the newly built Shence Army is not as good as that of the local state soldiers, so it is ridiculous to receive such a high reward.

He suddenly remembered the moment when Huang Chao had just broken through Tongguan and entered Guanzhong.The Shence Army newly recruited by the imperial court was looted by soldiers and horses from the eight towns in the northwest of Beijing, and they dared not fart or fight back.

How can such an army protect the court?It's better to let the soldiers of the feudal town enter Beijing, at least they can fight, and the food and payment requirements are extremely low.

Forget it, the chaos of Dong Zhuo in the later Han Dynasty cannot be ignored.

But Tian Lingzi's generation is really hateful, he and Yang Fugong joined forces for a while, but they just resisted hard, the reason is that they have no soldiers at hand.

The current Shence army is all Shu soldiers, how can they listen to them?

Without soldiers, even daily expenses are scarce, alas!What Tian Lingzi enjoys is the Mengshan tea in central Sichuan, which is "full of clouds in the depths of the cave", "sliced ​​and chopped three spring leaves", and "stone marrow fragrant and sticky flowers", while they can only enjoy Huazhou tea and Lingzhou tea. The tea capital in Yuan Mansion is intermittent, it all depends on whether Zhuge Shuang is willing to pay tribute.

Fortunately, the tea tripod at home was not lost, otherwise, I would have to use a pot to make tea like a warrior in the army, which would be a disservice to the scenery.

"Sit and drink the cold water and watch the rustling dust. Finally, there is still water for making tea." Ximen Zhong then put down the pepper and salt at the first boil, scooped out a ladle of water from the cauldron at the second boil, and took out the ground tea from the paper bag. Put in good tea foam and stir slowly to make the tea foam sink into the water.

"Bichenxia's feet are broken, and the fragrance is light and milky." Ximen Chongsui groaned a few words, and said hesitantly: "It's okay."

Then pour the tea in the ladle into the third boiling stone tripod, this step is called "Yuhua".

After everything was over, Ximen Zhong poured himself a bowl, and when he was about to enjoy it, he saw a servant come in and whispered in his ear.

"Bring him in." Ximen Zhong straightened his robe and said.

Soon, one person was invited in.

"Xiazhou Sima Li Hang has seen Ximen palace supervisor." Li Hang saluted as soon as he entered.

Ximen Chongsui is now serving as the commander of the right army of the Shence Army and the general of the right Weiwei, similar to the positions held by his uncle Ximen Sigong (ie Ximen Kuangfan).

The eunuch Ximen's family has been going on for generations since the middle Tang Dynasty.Ximen Sigong's qualifications are very old. Before Tian Lingzi and Yang Fuguang brothers fought openly and secretly, they liked to win over Ximen Sigong.But after defeating the Yang brothers together, Tian Lingzi emptied the Ximen family again, which made people quite angry.

Ximen Sigong is currently a lieutenant in the Youshence Army, but in fact he can't control those Shu soldiers at all. They obey on the surface, but flatter Tian Lingzi secretly.Ximen Sigong originally had a post, that is, to govern the renting of all Taoism and urge all Taoism to march and other envoys. It was given by the sage in the third year of neutralization. It is hard to say whether it is still useful now, after all, Huang Chao is dead.

Today's Ximen clan has come together with his former enemy Yang Fugong to deal with the mighty Tian Lingzi.

"Li Sima is a Confucian official in Xiazhou, why did you come to find a middleman?"

"Come here to punish Tian Lingzi." Li Hang said.

Ximen Chongsui poured a bowl of tea for Li Hang with a calm expression, and Li Hang bowed his hands in thanks.

"The King of Lingwu County hates Tian Lingzi very much." Ximen Chongsui said.

"Not to mention hatred." Li Hang said: "He is greedy and greedy. He repeatedly asks for military horses, money and silk, and the king is very annoying. Instead of dealing with this kind of person, it is better to find an old friend to be comfortable on top."

Hearing the word "old friend", Ximen Chong then understood that he was pointing out his old friendship with Ximen.They don't like Tian Lingzi, they think he is greedy, hard to satisfy, and not easy to cooperate with. This is trying to push Simon.

But Yang Fugong is so easy to get along with?Although this society said that they were sick at home, it seemed that they were not as good as their Ximen family, but Ximen Zhongsui did not dare to underestimate this person.

"Li Sima might as well try this Lingzhou tea. Although it is not as good as Jingnan, Jiangnan, and Sichuan treasures, it is also unique in flavor." Ximen Zhongsui said with a smile.

Li Hang picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, said: "The tea is really good. We, the well-dressed frontiersmen, are satisfied with a little bit of Lingzhou tea, so don't think about it."

"Li Sima is a hero of the shogunate, don't you want to taste Guanzhong tea?"

"A certain hunter is very fond of hunting. I am used to the North Wind and Moon. Now my family has moved to Xiazhou. I don't think about it anymore in Guanzhong."

"The King of Lingwu County..."

"My family's king went to Suiyin in spring to meet the old gentry of the village, slaughtered cattle and sheep, and bought wine to celebrate. In summer, he went south to Hengshan to cool off the summer heat, met various parties, and hunted tigers and leopards in the mountains. Celebrate. Go north to the grasslands in winter, worship the heavens and meet with other ministries. Your Majesty said that the scenery in the northern part of the Great Wall is not inferior to that in the Guanzhong and Jiangnan, so you can feel at ease." Li Hang said: "I also said that I have received the favor of the imperial court, so I have to live in summer. The prefecture opened a mansion and built a yamen, and if something happened in Guanzhong in the future, the imperial court issued a decree, and Xia Bing would find it."

Ximen Zhong nodded slightly.

Let's draw a line first and see if we can get on with each other.It's no fun to hide and hide at this time, it's better to make the words clear.

The bottom line of the King of Lingwu County is very clear. In the four directions of east, west, north and south, admit his rule over this territory, don't make trouble, don't think about making enemies for him, playing any balancing power, as long as everyone lives in peace.

In return, the king of Lingwu County also remained obedient to the court and maintained the authority of the court.If anyone wants to cause chaos in Guanzhong, the imperial court can order him to send troops to serve the king.As for the price of the king, I can discuss it in detail later, anyway, the attitude at this time has shown: I am a loyal minister.

Ximen Zhongsui didn't know how long the agreement of King Lingwu would last.In fact, he can't think so far. Isn't the current situation just a matter of day by day?

Li Keyong sold a large number of war horses in Hedong, raised money and silk, and rewarded all the troops. Where did the so-called come from?It's not for attacking Zhu Wen, and I hate what Zhu Wen did to him.

But the imperial court was also involved in this matter. If it is not clear, Li Ke will not fight Zhu Wen, and then lead the army into the customs to discuss the explanation.In Tian Lingzi's generation, he really failed to succeed and failed, so he thought of solving troubles by assassination, which is really ridiculous!

Li Keyong has so many enemies, including Dingnan, Xuanwu, Tiande, Zhenwu, Datong, Zhaoyi, Lulong, and Chengde, which add up to nearly 20 soldiers and horses. It is difficult to kill Li Keyong, who has only 5 men. ?

Shao Shude was very clever. He implicitly asked the court not to play with fire and set himself on fire, and instigated all the towns in Guanzhong to unite against him.The Dingnan army has mountains and rivers that are dangerous and solid, and it is not easy to attack.In case of panic, it is not King Qin's army that will go south.

"What does the King of Lingwu plan to do?" Ximen Zhongsui asked.

"Dare to ask Ximen Palace Supervisor, how can Tian Lingzi lose power?" Li Hang asked back.

"There is nothing like a big defeat, and everyone betrays their relatives."

"That's true." Li Hang said with a smile: "Wang Chongrong has more than [-] soldiers. How many people can Tian Lingzi recruit? The Shence Army is newly recruited, and they are not strong enough to fight. Only the elite soldiers from the eight towns in the northwest of Beijing can go to battle. Tian Lingzi will definitely meet. Deliberately wooing. My king doesn't like Tian Lingzi, so he can only hold the sage hostage and order Jingyuan, Binning, Fengxiang, Fengfang and other town soldiers to come to help. However, it is not known how many will come. It must be known that the imperial court has no money."

Without money, there is no way to fight, this is the truth that everyone understands.It's not that the soldiers in the eight towns northwest of Beijing are incapable of fighting, but the main reason is that after Huang Chao entered Chang'an, his salary was greatly reduced and his morale was low.If the imperial court can squeeze out food and pay, and help the towns to send in reinforcements, they may be able to defeat Wang Chongrong in one go, but how difficult it is!

There are more than 90 court officials, and the annual salary expenditure is millions of dollars!There are [-] sergeants in the Dingnan Army, and the total expenditure for a year is only [-] yuan.A sage needs to be respectable, and the imperial court needs airs. A huge bureaucracy must be maintained. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be reduced to a local government?

Before Shao Shude crossed over, he was a little puzzled, why at the end of the dynasty, the emperor still controlled a lot of land and population, which was no worse than the largest warlord at that time, but had no money and food to use?That's why.Without palaces and majesties, without Nan Ya Bei Si, the money saved can be used to train 10,000+ elite soldiers, but how can this money be saved?Save it, are you still the emperor?
If you are hard-hearted, don't show off and insist on saving money, most ministers, eunuchs, and nobles will not let you go. They will have various ways to persuade you, and if it doesn't work, replace them.

The emperor at the end of the dynasty did not have such authority.In many cases, it is the scapegoat of the corrupt system, the doll of the minister, and all kinds of shit happen one after another, and it is impossible to do anything.

To save money, save a fart, it is better to urge the towns in the south of the Yangtze River to send taxes to Beijing as soon as possible!
"Tian Lingzi can be defeated, but he can't plunder Chang'an." Ximen Chongsui said.

"There are soldiers in the Dingnan Yamen, who can disturb Shengjia?" Li Hang said with a smile: "My king manages the army well, and has won many battles. All he needs is a decree from the court, and he will immediately lead an army of [-] to go south. A few native chickens Wagou, how dare you stroke the beards of a difficult army tiger?"

"So, I'm relieved. Chang'an has suffered several wars and almost turned into ruins. Last year, some large trees were donated from Hedong, and some palaces were slightly repaired. If they are burned by soldiers again this time, everything will be over." Ximen Zhongsui sighed.

"Chang'an is the capital of the country, so we should preserve our vitality." Li Hang said, "You can rest assured, the Supervisor of Ximen Palace."

(End of this chapter)