Tang Dynasty Swordsman

Page 95

Li Shi asked with a smile, "And what about now?"

Li Ji replied, "After the Battle of Heyang, I realized that the rebels were mostly brave and strong from our Tang Dynasty, and their strength should not be underestimated. If I want to quell the flames of war in all directions for the court, I fear I will need no less than 100,000 men under my command."

Li Shi had a sudden inspiration and immediately raised his hand: "If I am able to make the decision in the future, I will surely send the Changwei General with 100,000 troops to sweep away the flames of war and make a name for myself in history!"

Li Ji glanced at him and, seeing the little guy still holding his hand up, asked, "Do you want to make a vow with a high five?"

Li Shi nodded. Li Ji then raised his hand and clapped his hands together with Li Shi's with a "snap": "Just as Your Highness said, I will repay you with my life!"

Li Shi was quite pleased. "I've finally scratched your itch, Li Changwei, by issuing a blank check. Hanging this carrot in front of your eyes will win you over." Li Ji, however, thought to himself: "You can just take it as a joke. Wait until you give me 100,000 men first... Besides, even if I'm shattered to pieces, I'll serve my country and protect my people. I would never be blindly loyal to a feudal monarch."

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Tibetan Invasion Again

Zou Qingluan got up early in the morning and instructed the servants to sweep the courtyard and living quarters. At the same time, she sent the cook out to call the vegetable farmer to the door.

Despite its vast size, Chang'an City lacked a dedicated vegetable and fruit supply base. Most nobles, including the imperial family, owned fields and estates outside the city, transporting vegetables and fruits into the city daily. Only when they couldn't consume them all would they send people to sell them in the East and West Markets. As for ordinary people, or lower- and middle-ranking officials like Li Ji, they could only rely on small farmers outside the city.

Most of the fields around Chang'an were planted with vegetables and fruits. Farmers harvested them every morning and carried them into the four gates of Chang'an to sell from house to house. In fact, given Qingluan's status, she could have easily ordered the cook to go out and buy them, but she was used to cooking herself, and the cook had become her assistant. Therefore, she often had to choose the vegetables herself before she felt at ease.

Not long after the cook left, she summoned a vegetable farmer to the door. Qingluan stood inside the door and watched, instructing the cook on what to choose. In the end, she spent fifteen coins to buy some cabbage, celery, houttuynia cordata, and cucumber.

Seeing the cook enter carrying a basket full of vegetables, Qingluan checked it again to make sure everything was in order before she couldn't help but sigh, "It's still autumn, and all kinds of vegetables are edible. If this were in Longyou, this basket would only cost two coins..."

The cook replied, "Even in Chang'an during the Tianbao era, it cost at most three coins. But thankfully, it didn't rise as fast as rice and wheat..."

—This cook is a local of Chang'an who lived through the peaceful and prosperous period of the Tianbao era.

Then she asked Qingluan, "Are these vegetables steamed, boiled, or served cold?" Qingluan smiled and said, "They're so fresh, they'll be served cold. Go pick some scallion leaves from behind the house, chop them up, mix them with soy sauce, and pour it over the vegetables." The cook was delighted to hear this.

China has a long tradition of eating cooked food, but during the Tang Dynasty, regardless of social status, people preferred to eat fresh vegetables raw, except for those preserved by pickling. However, some fruits, such as pears, were preferred cooked. Nevertheless, given the vast territory and varying customs across regions, in Longyou, where Qingluan originated, cooked food was the primary mode of consumption.

This custom likely originated in the Western Regions, and further back, its source may be in North India. The tradition involved boiling vegetables until very tender, then mixing them with ghee and various spices. In contrast, Chinese cuisine at that time was relatively bland, with less emphasis on spices. Even cooked dishes were typically boiled in salt water or steamed and then topped with soy sauce.

Therefore, the cook from Chang'an did not like to eat cooked dishes. However, when she heard Qingluan say that we would not steam or boil the vegetables today, but eat raw vegetables, she was overjoyed.

She picked up her basket and went to fetch water to wash herself. Qingluan secretly planned that for lunch she could cook some thin porridge, served with steamed buns and lettuce with black bean sauce…

When she was still a courtesan in Longyou, although she had to help with cooking and laundry, which was quite tiring, her daily meals weren't too bad. In addition, she had to attend banquets for officials to welcome and send off guests, and had tasted many fine wines and delicacies. However, she was still naturally inclined to eat vegetarian food—don't assume that someone who is good at cooking mutton soup necessarily likes to eat mutton. So she could never understand why her husband was so obsessed with meat, and could hardly go without it at every meal.

Is this meat and fish really that delicious?

When Li Ji was alive, she naturally had to cater to her husband's preferences. But when Li Ji went away on business, Qingluan resumed her usual vegetarian diet, often only eating meat every four or five days. As for the servants, they naturally drank the soup when their master ate meat, and the servants drank the soup when their master ate soup. Qingluan didn't mistreat them, but she felt quite pained that Li Ji often gave away all the leftover meat to the servants when he was alive.

—If you can't finish it, you can reheat it for the next meal. If you eat fresh food every meal, where would you get so much money?

Especially in Chang'an, where everything is so expensive, Qingluan is constantly terrified. What's most worrying is the price of goods, especially daily necessities like grains, vegetables, fish, meat, salt, and soy sauce, which keep rising. Although the increase isn't huge, even during peak season for vegetables, the price shows no sign of falling. Life is truly unbearable!

—In fact, the situation was similar in Longyou, specifically in Shanzhou, in the years following the turmoil, but the base number was low, and Qingluan did not have to personally manage money or make purchases before being redeemed, so she did not feel it deeply.

As she plotted in her mind, she told the gatekeeper to close the gate. However, before the gate was fully closed, she heard the sound of horses' hooves, followed by a familiar voice: "Don't close the gate, I've returned!"

Qingluan was both surprised and delighted to hear this—her husband had finally returned… Why hadn’t he sent someone to let her know beforehand? She knew that lunch would definitely have to include meat and vegetables. She wondered if she could still find good fish and meat at the market, or perhaps she could cut some cured meat to cook with the vegetables?

Li Ji arrived in Chang'an at dusk yesterday. Without returning home, he went directly to the residence of Prince Fengjie to visit Li Shi. They talked for a long time, and Li Ji had dinner at Li Shi's residence and stayed overnight. Actually, he was also thinking of his concubine and even probed Li Shi: "Although the street drums have sounded, I'm sure Your Highness has a way to get me home, right? You always come to see me in the middle of the night; how do you manage to sneak in? Is there some secret passage? Can I try it too?"

Unfortunately, Li Shi refused to let him go—or perhaps he didn't want to expose the secret passage—and forcefully pulled Li Ji's hand, pleading with him to stay: "It's a rare opportunity to drink and talk with you, and to get drunk together. Why is Changwei in such a hurry to leave?"

This is why Li Ji was delayed until early this morning to return home. Qingluan couldn't help but be a little suspicious—did you go into the city with the vegetable seller? Where did you sleep last night? But she didn't feel comfortable asking.

Moreover, Li Ji had traveled a long way back from another place—he didn't mention where he went when he left, only saying that he was on a long business trip—how ​​come he looked so clean, with no odor, and almost no trace of travel dust?

—That's natural. Since Li Ji stayed at the Prince of Fengjie's residence last night, he must have had a chance to bathe.

However, when Li Ji returned home, he merely gave a brief greeting, then said that I had been away from the capital for a long time and needed to hurry back to the palace to report back... Oh, more like report back. He told Qingluan that while I was traveling far away, I was very thirsty for your mutton soup. If there was any mutton at home, you could cook it for us tonight.

—That's just typical manly thinking. If he gave orders, would Qingluan really say, "No, let's eat something else tonight"? She would definitely send someone to the market to buy some, and that would keep her busy.

After returning to the Yingwu Army headquarters to cancel his leave, Li Ji discussed the internal and external situation with the eunuchs Dou and Huo, as well as Ma Sui. When the topic turned to the Shence Army stationed in the palace, he inquired about the newly appointed Shence Army Inspector Dan Tingyao. Dou Wenchang said, "Old Dan has always liked to practice swordsmanship, so the Empress recommended him to supervise the Shence Army. But in reality... he can only show off some fancy moves and draw a soft bow. Moreover, he has no experience in commanding troops and is not worth fearing."

Huo Xianming, however, spoke more directly, and immediately laughed and said, "Old Dou, don't make fun of me. Actually, when you and I first took command of the Yingwu Army, how different were we from him? Fortunately, with the help of Changwei and Xunmei, we were able to gradually gain experience."

Li Ji thought to himself, "Have you guys really gotten any experience? Probably not..."

Huo Xianming then turned to Li Ji and said seriously, "A few days ago, we discussed this. Dan Tingyao is not a threat, but Liu Xixian, the commander of the Shence Army, seems to be a capable man and can win the hearts of the soldiers..."

When Li Ji hosted the last banquet, he didn't invite Liu Xixian. Firstly, he wasn't familiar with Liu, and secondly, Liu held a high position—a fifth-rank official—making it difficult for Li Ji and Ma Sui to get close to him. However, they had tried to inquire about Liu's background during the banquet.

Liu Xixian was from Chiyang in Yongzhou. He was not part of Wei Boyu's old guard, but was transferred to the Shence Army when it first established itself in Shanzhou and expanded its forces. He was also a military man, strong and powerful, skilled in horsemanship and archery, which allowed him to stand out among the generals. However, his rise to the position of Commander-in-Chief was mainly due to his ingratiation with the supervising officer Yu Chaoen, who then made him a trusted confidant.

The title "Yuhou" has a long history, originally referring to officials in charge of managing mountains, forests, ponds, and marshes during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was only after the Western Wei Dynasty that it became a military title. Since the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, military governors of various garrisons often appointed their trusted military officers as "Du Yuhou" to be responsible for patrolling and enforcing the law within the army. Therefore, Yu Chaoen's promotion of Liu Xixian to "Du Yuhou" was intended to use him as a henchman to gradually gain control of the Shence Army.

Li Ji said to the two eunuchs, Dou and Huo, "Dan Tingyao is an inner court official, and we can't do much with him. We have to rely on you two to deal with him." Then he turned to Ma Sui and said, "Since Liu Xixian is Yu Chaoen's confidant, if Yu Chaoen is forced to go out and Dan Tingyao takes charge of the Shence Army, he will most likely not be convinced and may outwardly comply but inwardly defy him. This will give us an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. However, Liu Xixian probably knows that I am not on good terms with Yu Chaoen. Only Xunmei can step forward and try to win him over."

Ma Sui nodded. Li Ji concluded, "As for the other generals of the Shence Army, they will be under my command. In this way, the two armies will not quarrel and will both be loyal and diligent in serving the king. It will also ensure that my martial prowess will not fall behind the Shence Army."

His subtext was that only in this way could he hope to bring all the imperial troops under the control of the Crown Prince and Prince Fengjie, preventing them from falling under Empress Zhang's control. However, he couldn't say this outright. It's believed that Dou and Huo, as Li Shi's cronies, and Ma Sui, with his ambiguous relationship with Li Fuguo, would have understood this implicitly.

Dou, Huo and others then said they wanted to host a banquet to welcome Li Ji back—there was no need to hide from them what Li Ji had been doing during his long leave this time, they just didn't mention that he had made another trip to Heyang—but he politely declined, saying that he had just returned to Chang'an and needed to hurry home to visit his family.

Returning home from get off work, he was greeted with the long-awaited mutton soup, a flavor from the Guanxi region, and devoured three large bowls of it, meat and broth alike. During his evening rest, Qingluan boiled water to bathe him, only to discover that Li Ji still had a bandage wrapped around his right arm, causing her great alarm. Li Ji smiled and comforted her, saying, "A man going into battle is bound to have wounds. It's nothing, it should scab over soon..."

Qingluan hurriedly asked, "Is my lord on official business this time going to fight?"

Li Ji's eyes flickered, and he quickly changed the subject: "A few minor injuries, nothing to do with anything—come, come, let's fight tonight, and I'll fight you three hundred rounds!"

----------

As Li Ji predicted, the Tibetan army indeed used a feigned attack on Longyou while secretly targeting Shu and Liangzhou.

Less than half a month after his return to the capital, news suddenly arrived that tens of thousands of barbarian troops had bypassed the Great Snow Mountain and invaded the border prefectures of Gong, Feng, Jing, and Wei in Sichuan, successively capturing Pingrong City, Tianbao Army, and Chihe Garrison. Lu Yuanyu, the military governor of Jiannan Xichuan, ordered his deputy Gao Shi to lead troops to resist them. A great battle was fought at Qingbian City, and the Tang army was ultimately defeated and retreated to Tonghua.

A folk song then arose that said: "Gao Zhongwu was truly in a sorry state; he could pacify the internal affairs (referring to the matter of Prince Yong, Li Lin), but he could not defend against external threats."

When news of the defeat reached Chang'an, Li Heng was furious and immediately ordered the dismissal of Lu Yuanyu and Gao Shi from their posts, and appointed Yan Wu and Yan Jiying as the military governors of Jiannan Xichuan.

However, in private discussions, Li Shi still spoke up for Gao Shi—"In the second year of the Zhide era, the Jiannan military governorship was divided into two towns: Jiannan West Sichuan and Jiannan East Sichuan. At that time, Gao Fu submitted a memorial, saying that the two Sichuan regions were actually one, extending from Qiongguan, Li, and Ya to the southern barbarians (Nanzhao); westward from Maozhou, passing through cities such as Qiangzhong and Pingrong, bordering the Tubo. In the past, with the abundance of Shu and the assistance of Shannan, we were still struggling to defend against invaders on two fronts, let alone being divided into two? The border areas are mostly impoverished, and the only places that can produce taxes are Chengdu, Peng, Shu, and Han prefectures. It is difficult to have four prefectures now to handle the burden of ten prefectures in the past."

"It's a pity the sage didn't heed good advice... I wonder if Yan Wu, now that he's gone, can stabilize the situation, launch a counterattack, and recover the lost territory..."

Li Ji had met Yan Jiying and admired his poem "Early Autumn in the Military City"—though it was, of course, quite different from Gao Shi's poetry—but he knew very little about the man's abilities and character and dared not make any hasty judgments. Therefore, he could only say to Li Shi, "Yan Wu has only just arrived, and it is already quite an achievement that he has been able to hold onto the four prefectures near Chengdu. As for recovering the lost territories, we can only hope for the future. I hope the court will pay more attention to the situation in Western Sichuan, but also not urge Yan Wu too much."

However, Ma Chongying was still nowhere to be seen among the barbarian troops. In fact, Ma Chongying personally led an elite cavalry force northward to launch a surprise attack on Dadou Army and Jiaocheng garrison, as if he wanted to cut the Longyou Road in two!

When the Tang court received the report, everyone was shocked. Li Shi sought a way to request that a general be sent to aid Liangzhou, and his memorial was finally approved. Guo Ziyi recommended Ma Lin, the military governor of Zhenxi, to replace Zhou Ben and temporarily take charge of military affairs in Hexi.

—The title of Zhenxi Jiedushi was changed from the title of Anxi Four Garrisons Jiedushi, but in fact, Ma Lin's previous title was also nominal. He had just returned to Chang'an with Guo Ziyi and was still sitting on the sidelines.

However, Li Ji held a somewhat optimistic view of the war in Liangzhou, analyzing, "It's possible that Ma Chongying misjudged the situation..."

At the end of last year, Ma Chongying sent Qilibuzang to Tang to sue for peace, actually to spy on the war situation in the east. However, at that time, the eleventh military governor had just led a large army to besiege Xiangzhou, and the news of Shi Siming's surrender and rebellion had not yet arrived. On the surface, it seemed that the Tang army had a great chance of winning, and it could almost be said that the victory was already secured. Not only Qilibuzang, but most Tang people thought so too.

Therefore, Qilibuzang returned to Tibet to report. In addition, Ma Chongying had just suffered a setback and retreated, so he dared not set the main attack direction for the next time—that is, this year—on Longyou, and only sent a feint. The main force of the Tibetan army went south to attack Shu, probably to seek the support of Nanzhao. As for the northward attack on Liangzhou, it was purely for harassment and to plunder people.

Military plans are often decided months in advance. It's likely that Ma Chongying learned of the defeat at Xiangzhou too late, and it was too late to make changes.

Therefore, "since it is only a raid by less than 10,000 cavalry, and the journey is long, even though Liangzhou has been damaged, the barbarian bandits may not dare to penetrate deep into the territory."

Chapter Thirty-Six: Public Bribery

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is vast and sparsely populated. The main settlement of the Tubo people was in the southern part of the plateau, centered on Lhasa (later known as Lhasa), bordering India and Nepal to the south and Yangtong (Zhangzhung) to the west. In addition, in the eastern part, bordering the Tang Dynasty's territory, such as the Xihai and Jishi Mountains, various ethnic groups including the Western Qiang and Tuyuhun lived together, and these areas were also annexed by the Tubo during the reign of Songtsen Gampo.

Therefore, the journey from the core area of ​​Tibet to the Xihai and Jishi Mountains was over a thousand li; from there, it was another five hundred li to the Qilian Mountains and Daxue Mountains, entering the Tanggan, Liang, Guasu, and other prefectures, and the route was sparsely populated. Given the lack of safe transport routes and suitable forward bases, it was highly unlikely that the Tibetan army, with only ten thousand cavalry—and the actual number would probably be even lower—could have attacked major cities like Guzang and Zhangye, and truly cut off the Hexi Corridor.

However, in the past, when Ma Chongying attacked Longyou and went straight to Shanzhou, his purpose was to cut off the connection between the Central Plains and the Western Regions in order to secure Anxi and Beiting. His strategic goal was very clear. This time, however, the three-pronged attack was somewhat puzzling. Li Ji could only guess that it was probably because last year's eastward expedition had resulted in heavy losses and little gain, making it difficult for Ma Chongying to explain to the various tribal chiefs and officials. Therefore, this year's war was only for short-term gains, a quick plunder and a retreat.

Almost simultaneously, news also arrived from the Luoyang palace. Sure enough, after Shi Siming's attack on Heyang failed and his westward harassment of Shanzhou ended in defeat, he ordered Zhou Zhi to attempt to capture the palace. However, Zhang Xun held it firmly and sent generals such as Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun to launch a counterattack, inflicting a great defeat on Zhou Zhi.

Unfortunately, the disparity in numbers was too great, preventing the siege of the palace from being lifted. Zhang Xun's memorial stated that he was confident he could hold the palace, and as long as Heyang remained intact and could provide support, Luoyang would not fall completely. The problem was that supplies for Heyang could be supplied from Huaizhou or Hedong, but Luoyang's supply lines were blocked, leaving them depleted... He earnestly requested the court to devise a plan to provide relief.

It wasn't entirely without options. The court decided to gather ships in Lushi, have a Shence Army unit escort them, and transport the grain and supplies via the Luo River to the south of the Luoyang palace. Zhang Xun would then be invited to come out of the palace to meet them. The specifics of how to implement this plan were naturally the responsibility of Lai Zhen, the military governor of Guo, Hua, and Shan prefectures.

Of course, the necessary food and manpower were also obtained by Lai Zhen on the spot—there was no surplus food in the capital region!

Even so, knowing that Nan Jiyun and other generals were still cautiously guarding Luoyang and had not encountered any major danger, Li Ji felt somewhat relieved. He then planned to host banquets for the Shence Army generals from time to time to foster better relations between the two sides and prepare for potential future conflicts. However, hosting banquets would definitely cost money. Not to mention that Li Ji's own salary was not high, even if it were enough to cover the expenses, he would try his best not to pay out of his own pocket—otherwise, wouldn't Qingluan be furious with him?

So, taking advantage of another day off, he rode alone to the West Market without Qingluan, and entered the jewelry shop that Kang Qian had shown him the day before. The shopkeeper remembered him and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: "I wonder what kind of jewelry you've come to buy for your wife, Second Master?"

Li Ji smiled and said, "I wish to see Minister Kang, and I hope you can grant me an audience."

Upon hearing this, the other party paused for a moment—Kang Qian held the honorary title of Minister of State Ceremonies, so Li Ji respectfully addressed him as "Minister Kang." The problem was that the old man was only "on trial" duty, so no one usually addressed him that way—then he smiled broadly and said, "Second Brother, please come inside for tea. I will send someone to invite Master Kang over right away."

The Tang people's tea-drinking methods were very complicated, but when it came to the actual taste, they were completely unpalatable to Li Ji. He had tried to find some new tea and intended to try roasting it himself, but neither Longyou nor the capital region produced tea. The tea transported from Jiangnan or Shu was all steamed tea cakes mixed with spices... In the end, Li Ji could only buy some tea cakes with fewer spices (and thus considered inferior and very cheap), break them up and brew them, but he still felt that it didn't taste quite right.

Fortunately, when they went inside to serve tea, which involved grinding and boiling the tea leaves, Kang Qian arrived shortly after it was ready. Li Ji took the opportunity to put down his teacup and refused to touch the tea again—even though he knew it must be good tea.

When it came to the serious matter of withdrawing money, Li Ji didn't know how to broach the subject and could only ramble on about trivial matters. Kang Qian, being a man of social standing and adept at reading people, invited Li Ji to a restaurant for a banquet.

After a few drinks, Li Ji finally grew bolder and began to steer the conversation towards the Imperial Guards. He said that now that the Yingwu and Shence armies were both guarding the Forbidden City, some friction was inevitable. He had been ordered by his superior to host a banquet for the Shence army generals in order to improve relations and mend the rifts, but unfortunately—

"This matter cannot be handled through official channels, and the superior is unwilling to bestow gold and silk upon us. I don't know what to do."

As he spoke, he sighed and lamented in a mocking manner.

Kang Qian smiled and said, "Your Excellency treats me as a friend and does not look at me differently because I was born a barbarian. My son and I are very grateful. So, if Your Excellency is ever in trouble, how can a friend not lend a helping hand?"

As he spoke, he poured Li Ji another glass of wine and said, "Since you like this fine wine from the Western Regions, I will certainly send you a few more bottles. I will send someone to deliver them to your residence another day."

Sure enough, the next day, a cart arrived at Li Ji's door, and ten earthenware jars were unloaded from it. The person escorting the cart said that he was sent by Kang Gong to deliver wine to Li Erlang—"The master of the house said that Erlang likes wine, so it should be served every month. These are just small items, so there is no need to worry about their value."

When Li Ji saw the servants carrying the urn with heavy steps, he knew what was going on. He immediately bowed and said, "I'll go and meet with Lord Kang another day to thank him for his kindness."

Qingluan, however, didn't understand and tentatively asked Li Ji, "Although Erlang loves wine, for the sake of his health, it's best to drink less on a daily basis. Besides, how can we possibly eat so much? If we can save some, we can sell it at the market to supplement our household income..."

Li Ji smiled at her and said, "Let's wait until there's something left."

He carried all the earthenware jars into the inner room, one in each hand. When he opened them, he found that only one jar contained wine, while the others were filled with copper coins... and most of them were "Qian Yuan Zhong Bao" coins worth ten times the face value, or newly issued "Chong Lun Qian" coins worth fifty times the face value!

Qingluan was dumbfounded. She tugged at Li Ji's sleeve and asked repeatedly, "How can there be so much money? Young master, please be careful and don't break the law!"

Li Ji thought to himself: I guess this counts as accepting a bribe... But the other party didn't ask for anything, it was just a free gift. If we're talking about who should take the bribe, it should be Yan Zhuang! He then instructed Qingluan: "Find a separate place to store it, and don't mix it with your family's money. Don't worry, I'm not breaking the law, this is public money."

In fact, Qingluan, though seemingly naive, knew quite a bit about officialdom—in the past, when officials were drunk and embracing courtesans, what sordid things did they dare not utter? Hearing this, she understood and trusted her husband, so she didn't ask any more questions.

She surmised that it was indeed a bribe, but not to Li Ji personally—her husband probably didn't have that kind of power—but rather to the Left Heroic Army, or even the entire Heroic Army; Li Ji was merely the intermediary. Such exchanges of favors between government departments were, frankly, not uncommon, especially concerning the Imperial Guards. As long as it wasn't publicized, generally no one would dare investigate, right? And even if an investigation did occur, someone could easily be pushed out to take the blame. Since her husband was on good terms with the Prince of Fengjie, it shouldn't be difficult for him to clear his name…

The sum of money sent by Kang Laohu amounted to a full 15,000 coins—more than three times Li Ji's own salary! With this money, Li Ji immediately set about his business, holding a small banquet every five days and a large banquet every ten days, gradually winning over the Shence Army generals of all ranks below Liu Xixian. Through these generals, he also rewarded the ordinary soldiers.

He didn't take credit for it himself, but subtly hinted that it was a gift from His Highness the Crown Prince. The soldiers were initially a little embarrassed—why did Erlang always have to invite us—or even a little worried and afraid, but upon hearing that it was a gift from the Crown Prince, they accepted it readily.

They were all roughnecks, guarding the outer court, and not very familiar with the intrigues in the palace. Since the emperor had officially appointed the crown prince, the crown prince's reward was the emperor's reward. How could they not accept it?

Oh, there is a difference—a reward from a sage can be flaunted everywhere, but a reward from a prince is something everyone can quietly pocket. And Erlang also said that the military inspector and the commander of the capital will receive separate rewards, but they won't mention it to us, so we shouldn't tell them either. Just keep it to ourselves and let it be.

As for Dan Tingyao and Liu Xixian, it would naturally require the eunuchs Dou and Huo, or Ma Sui, to win them over. However, it is estimated that those individuals, especially Ma Sui, do not have a deep family fortune—his taste is now even inferior to Li Ji's—Li Ji, however, did not keep it all to himself, offering Dou Wenchang four thousand coins as operating funds, which he could then distribute among the two.

He couldn't give Ma Sui money directly, mainly because he couldn't find a suitable pretext. Offering it to Dou Wenchang would be much easier; he could simply say it was the intention of the Prince of Fengjie.

To get back to the point, Li Ji, too lazy to look for another venue, decided to host the banquet for the Shence Army generals at Lü Miaozhen's house in the middle of Pingkang Ward. Firstly, the Lü family's cuisine was indeed quite good, and their own style was rather refined, so entertaining generals below the sixth rank wouldn't be shameful. Secondly, Li Ji, a frequent customer, took the opportunity to discuss with Lü Miaozhen how about a discount? After all, they were all uncouth men, and there was no need for Miss Susu to personally attend to their needs.

—If he were to actually invite Miss Susu out, he'd probably have to spend all of his extra income for just one meal!

Lu Miaozhen agreed, mainly because Su Su's market value had been declining recently... but she made a request: Su Su has inconvenient times every month, so Erlang, why don't you choose a few days to book the whole place?

Li Ji naturally couldn't have imagined that he frequently visited Lü Miaozhen's house, and even occasionally stayed overnight—guests sometimes asked to stay overnight, so how could he possibly leave first?—thus arousing Qingluan's even greater suspicion...

Qingluan was almost certain that Lü Miaozhen's family had a little fox spirit, though she didn't know if it was the one she'd seen dressed as a man the other day... But she was, after all, a concubine of low birth, and dared not quarrel with Li Ji, or even stop him. She only often showed a resentful expression and subtly inquired: "Is my lord going out for drinks again today? Who have you invited? Who will accompany you? Since it's public money, there's no need to be stingy. Shouldn't you call a few more girls to entertain us? I wonder what the name of that popular girl in the Lü family is, and what skills she has?"

Furthermore, Qingluan gradually loosened her grip on the bed, even becoming insatiable—she wanted to conceive quickly, so that with a child to rely on, her position would be secure no matter how much her husband went out to have fun. Even though Li Ji was strong and healthy, he couldn't help but feel uneasy, thinking to himself: Only I could handle it; how could anyone else, or someone a little older, withstand it...? Were all those men with many wives and concubines born great men? Or were they just there to decorate their image, purely for eye candy?

Time passed swiftly, autumn turned to winter, and then the year ended, ushering in the third year of the Qianyuan era.

Not long before the New Year, the much-criticized prime minister, Fifth Qi, was finally removed from office.

To be honest, Li Ji didn't harbor any ill will towards Fifth Qi, and had to admit that among the officials of his time, he was a remarkably skilled financial manager. However, limited by the era and constrained by the environment, all the policies Fifth Qi offered after taking charge of the nation's finances were nothing more than exploiting the people and draining the pond to catch all the fish—the high rice prices in Chang'an were ultimately Fifth Qi's fault, and as Kang Laohu pointed out, price increases elsewhere were no lower than in Chang'an…

In an era still using metal currency, and especially with the court's prestige severely damaged, Fifth Qi, in an attempt to salvage the situation, came up with the disastrous idea of ​​issuing large-denomination coins—first minting the Qian Yuan Zhong Bao, one of which was worth ten, and then minting the Chong Lun Qian, one of which was worth fifty. However, a single Qian Yuan Zhong Bao could not possibly weigh as much as ten Kai Yuan coins, and the Chong Lun Qian was far less valuable than fifty Kai Yuan coins. This naturally led to widespread counterfeiting among the people, resulting in cheap coins, expensive goods, soaring prices, and widespread discontent among the common people.

The people resented the court, and the court officials not only blamed Wu Qi, but also submitted a flurry of impeachments and petitions to remove him from his position as prime minister in the event of any natural disaster, man-made calamity, local unrest, rampant banditry, peasant rebellions, or general mutinies. In the end, even Emperor Li Heng could no longer tolerate it and issued an edict on the seventh day of the eleventh month, demoting Wu Qi to the position of Prefect of Zhongzhou.

Even during his tenure, Fifth Qi was notorious for his slanderous remarks; his downfall only intensified the backlash—a common occurrence in officialdom. Shortly afterward, an anonymous accusation surfaced that he had accepted a bribe of two hundred taels of gold. The Tang court dispatched Imperial Censor Liu Qiguang to pursue him and interrogate him thoroughly. Fifth Qi replied, "Two hundred taels of gold, weighing thirteen catties, such a large and heavy object—how could I conceal it? As Prime Minister, how could I dare accept it? If there is solid evidence, please punish me according to the law."

Liu Qiguang reported to Li Heng that Wu Qi's words were tantamount to an admission... so he was stripped of his official position and exiled to Yizhou.

That happened in February of the third year of the Qianyuan era. Li Ji later heard the news from Li Shi and felt indignant on behalf of Fifth Qi. He said to Li Shi, "I certainly don't approve of his methods, but he is indeed talented. Perhaps he is limited to one prefecture or circuit and cannot govern the whole country. However, without any real evidence, he was falsely accused of bribery and exiled. Who will dare to take on any responsibility after that?" He then asked, "Now that Fifth Qi is gone, who will manage the national finances?"

Li Shi replied, "An imperial edict has been issued, recalling Liu Yan from Henan and appointing him as Vice Minister of Revenue..."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Catching Thieves in Chang'an

In February of the third year of the Qianyuan era, the Ministry of Rites held the spring imperial examinations. The Prefect of the Capital submitted a memorial, arguing that the large influx of scholars into Chang'an had led to disorder and that the local officials and criminals were insufficient to control the situation. He earnestly requested that the Imperial Guards be dispatched to assist in patrolling the city. Consequently, an imperial edict was issued, ordering Dan Tingyao to allocate a contingent of troops from the Shence Army to assist in maintaining order in the capital.

The reason the task was assigned to the Shence Army instead of the Yingwu Army was that the Shence Army had twice the number of Yingwu troops entering the capital, but their responsibility was only the outer court, making their workload relatively lighter. However, Li Ji sensed something ominous and hurriedly tried to persuade the Prince to leave through the eunuchs Dou and Huo.