"Although Lao Kong and I are surrendered generals, Commander-in-Chief, we have never had any second thoughts since I surrendered you! We have successfully suppressed bandits in Shandong and wiped out the remnants of the Southern Ming Dynasty in Sichuan.

But now you want to send me and Lao Kongfa to a barren land, Marshal, our brothers have absolutely no intention of caring about you! Why can't you even reward us with a mouthful of rich rice!" I heard that I was going to Qinghai. This news

For Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, it was like a bolt from the blue.

For so many years, we have fought battles that were looked down upon by drilling into mountains and digging holes. We used weapons that have been eliminated by others, and even the military resources are less than those of other people's field armies. After seeing the field army of the Liao Army, which is directly related to Li Xiao, his subordinates

They all say they are stepmothers.

Now they are actually being sent to Qinghai. They are simply not raised by stepmothers, they are simply raised by maids.

Kong Youde, who is over sixty this year, just knelt on the ground and sobbed without saying a word. Kong Youde, nicknamed Geng Erluzi, knelt in front of Li Xiao with his neck hunched, tears on his face flowing like a stream. His eyes were full of unwillingness and grievance.

.

What he said is indeed correct. After following Li Xiao for many years, the two of them have been doing the dirty, hard, and tiring work. From suppressing bandits in Shandong to Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, all they did was drill.

Work like digging holes in mountains and chasing down bandits.

Although the combat effectiveness of their troops could only fight such a battle, they still fought after all. What's more, they successfully defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan and successfully killed the Daxi Emperor.

On merit! Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming had nothing to say. Now it is normal for them to cry and make a scene in front of Li Xiao.

"Get up!" Li Xiao was sitting on the tiger-skin chair. Not far behind him, Li Lin looked at the two gray-bearded guys curiously, crying like a baby in confinement.

This way of crying is as sad as if your beloved little tiger was taken away by your father. Could it be that their little tiger was also confiscated by his father? Dad is good at everything, but he likes to confiscate other people's tigers.

"Commander! There are more than 20,000 brothers behind our brothers. If you don't give me an accurate answer, our brothers will die here today. It would be better than going back and being stabbed in the back by the brothers." Geng Zhongming is indeed a fool, Geng.

He was holding his neck and refused to stand up.

If he doesn't stand up, Kong Youde will naturally not stand up either.

"Oh!" Li Xiao looked around, and after looking for a while he spread his hands helplessly: "There is really nothing in this tent that you can hit to death, how about you hit me?"

"Uh...!" At this time, not only Kong Youde was dumbfounded, but Geng Zhongming was also dumbfounded. Is the commander going to... kill the donkey?

"Fortunately, you are still a general who leads troops, and your brain is stupider than a pig. Let me ask you, in all these years, which of my subordinates have I wronged? There are many people who surrendered to our Liao army. Who have you seen being killed?

Are you a donkey? As long as I don’t rebel, who of me is not a high-ranking official and a generous salary?

You also said that you two have worked hard over the years without any credit. In my opinion, Li Xiao, you have all the credit and hard work. It was you who wiped out the Linyi bandits, and it was you who wiped out Zhang Xianzhong. You used crude weapons.

, in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, I kept wandering around the mountains.

Without your efforts in suppressing bandits, the world would not be as peaceful as it is today.

Of course, I haven't treated you badly either. You two have achieved the rank of general, and if my subordinates are worthy, I will promote them as appropriate. Suppressing bandits is hard work, but you will also make a lot of money.

To annihilate Zhang Xianzhong, you handed over 10,000 taels of silver. After all Zhang Xianzhong’s struggles in the Ming Dynasty over the years, you said he only had 10,000 taels of silver in savings... Do you believe it yourself?"

Li Xiao stared at Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde who were kneeling on the ground like tigers.

"Silver cannot be circulated in the Ming Dynasty, so you asked Zheng Sen's brother Tagawa Nanemon to help you with silver coins. I don't feel sorry for you about this, right? If you don't have my nod to exchange such a large amount of silver coins, will Ai Husheng exchange it for you?

"

"Commander! We are guilty, we are guilty! The blame belongs to both of us brothers. Whether you ransacked the house or beheaded us, our brothers admitted it. Who let us have long hands and took money that we shouldn't have taken? Follow us.

Our brothers are innocent! Please let them go for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's conquests in the past few years, and don't send them to Qinghai, a place where birds don't shit." Kong Youde knelt on the ground and said "Bang" "Bang"

"Kowtow, what you say is very unscrupulous.

"Who the hell said Qinghai is a place where birds don't poop? Do you know that Qinghai is bounded by the Riyue Mountain and the northern edge of the Qingnan Plateau, with pastoral areas to the west and farming areas to the east. From west to east, glaciers,

Gobi, desert, grassland, water, woodland and cultivated land are distributed in trapezoidal shape.

Just for the cultivated land, your 20,000 men can't all divide it into one hundred acres each. What's more, the water and grass around Qinghai Lake are rich. Do you know what the price of wool is now?

You spent the whole day suppressing bandits and went to the plateau to catch some herdsmen, and you made a lot of money out of just wool. Do you need me to say more?"

Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde blinked, as if what Li Xiao said did make sense. Just now they were telling them about corruption, and now they were pointing out ways to make money. The two brothers couldn't keep up.

"Commander! You should continue talking!" Kong Youde was so cunning after all. He suddenly realized that Li Xiao had no intention of disposing of them, let alone exile them. Going to Qinghai didn't seem to be a trap, but a big opportunity to make a fortune.

.

The shameless Kong Youde stood up, picked up the teacup from the tray held by Shunzi, and carefully placed it on the small table next to Li Xiao.

"There is a place in Qinghai called Tarim, where there is a large salt lake. But there is also something called potassium salt. You can think of this thing as a kind of mineral. The potassium fertilizer made from this mineral can obviously increase the yield of the fields.

It can also make crop stems grow stronger, prevent lodging, promote flowering and fruiting, and enhance drought resistance, cold resistance, and resistance to diseases and insect pests.

Think about how much arable land we have in the Ming Dynasty. One pound of potassium fertilizer is used per acre per year. How many pounds is that? Calculate it yourself? This is a gold mountain and a silver sea! You can make a lot of money out of a pound of copper.

You are so damn picky, if you don’t want to go, I will find a place for you to retire in Jiangnan. I will send someone else to Qinghai. I think Zu Dashou is pretty good, after all these years...!"

"Commander!" Geng Zhongming shouted.

Li Lin was startled, wondering if this man was going to get up and fight with his father.

"Commander! The most right thing our brothers have done in our lives is to follow you. Leave Qinghai to our brothers. If the Tubo people dare to step down to the plateau, you can ask us brothers.

Who dares to question the commander's decision in the future, we brothers will be the first to refuse. As long as the commander gives you a finger, we will live through fire and water without hesitation! In this life, we are sold to the commander. In the next life, we will bear oxen and horses, and we will repay the favor by weaving rings in the grass.

The kindness of the commander-in-chief.”

Facts have proved that Geng Er was not stunned at all. He knelt on the ground and hit his head on the ground with "bang" and "bang", and blood flowed down after just a few hits.

"Didn't you say that I killed the donkey?" Li Xiao was made to laugh and cry by Geng Zhongming.

"Who dares to slander the commander-in-chief, I will kill him!" Geng Zhongming showed his strong white teeth, a mouth that could eat people's hearts alive.

"Since you want to go to Qinghai, then take your people and go there quickly. Master Man has almost captured all the people there, so if you want herd slaves, you can only find them on the plateau. If you want to hire people from the Ming Dynasty, the price must be fair. If I

I heard that there were things that harmed the people of the Ming Dynasty...!"

"Commander, you can twist off my head and use it as a ball."

"You can use the man named Gesar. And you have to ensure that he lives. This man is of great use to me. Once he dies, my losses will be great."

"No! Don't worry, Marshal. If you don't tell him to die, even if he reaches the gate of hell, our brothers will have to bring him back." In order to pat Li Xiao's horse, Geng Zhongming was already a little shameless.

Even if he has great magical powers, he probably wouldn't dare to compete with the King of Hell for people.

Li Xiao didn't care about this. Qinghai needed to station a strong Han army to ensure the security of the Hexi Corridor. The existing field divisions sent to Qinghai were ruined. After what happened in Lanzhou last time, the garrison division seemed to be unsafe.

Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming are suitable brothers. Their men are tough and good at fighting, and they have made many military achievements over the years. Giving Qinghai to them can be regarded as a reward for them. In the future, when the potash fertilizer mine is mined, it will indeed be a very huge income.

At the same time, potash fertilizer has been applied to Daming’s crops, which will greatly increase crop yields. No matter how you look at it, this is a win-win situation.

When I came, I was full of grievances and anger, and when I left, I was elated and burst into tears of gratitude. Sometimes Li Xiao felt that sitting in this position, he was playing the role of a profit distributor.

After being taught by Sun Chengzong, Li Xiao knew that nothing big could happen just by lying. When all your subordinates know that you are just a big liar, you will not be far from defeat. Li Xiao understood this sentence as,

If there is an uninteresting boss, there will be uninteresting employees.

Therefore, Li Xiao tried his best to play the role of a profit distributor, and this kind of profit must be a win-win situation for the empire and his subordinates. Otherwise, sooner or later, the balance of power will be broken. When the time comes, these arrogant people will not be inferior.

Your subordinates will turn into hungry wolves. Whether they will bite you will definitely depend on whether there is any greater benefit.

It is not easy to do this, and it requires high political skills and skills. Fortunately, we have teachers like Sun Chengzong and assistants like Zhang Huangyan.

If others are united around Li Xiao for various interests, these two people are purely for belief, a belief that allows the Chinese nation to take off. For this belief, Sun Chengzong rejected those requests from the family.

Let the militaryly talented grandson Sun Zhijie serve as the head of the guard regiment!

The eldest son, who was quite scheming but had no city government, was simply driven back to his hometown to farm. In an atmosphere where the cultivation of the eldest son was highly valued, Sun Chengzong needed great determination to do this.

Zhang Huangyan is more pious than Sun Chengzong. He always does things based on the interests of the empire. When there are some dirty and bad things that will leave eternal infamy, he will rush to do them without caring about the fact that his history will be as sharp as a knife a hundred years later.

Moreover, Zhang Huangyan has been in Beijing for so many years. He only has one wife, one concubine and one old servant at home, and all his children stay in his hometown to study. When the eldest daughter got married, she just married a scholar from her hometown. At a time when it is popular for wealthy families to marry each other, this is

What a rare clear stream.

Li Xiao trusts these two people unconditionally because they have no selfish motives!

"Dad! Did you also confiscate their little tiger?" Li Xiao, who was suffering from hysteria in the northwest spring breeze, felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

Li Lin was very upset about his father confiscating his tiger. In his eyes, the little tiger was a bigger cat and very docile. He liked this gift given to him by his third uncle Li Hu very much.

Speaking of this tiger, Li Xiao was so angry that his head was filled with smoke. Last winter, Li Hu got a Siberian tiger cub from nowhere and gave it to Li Lin, who didn't know how high the world was.

Children all like small animals, and Li Lin naturally loves this "big cat" very much. He eats, sleeps, and studies together all day long, and drags the little tiger around the handsome man's house when he has nothing to do.

Li Xiao was shocked when he saw the tiger cub. Although it was just a newly weaned tiger cub, the big yellow dog at the door was so frightened that he peed when he saw it. It was hard for Li Hu to think of letting his children raise tigers.

Can tigers grow at the same rate as humans? This is a giant tiger from Northeast China. In one or two years, it has grown into a behemoth of more than 200 kilograms and three to four meters in length. Its bite force is top-notch in the animal kingdom, with the power of one claw.

It weighed two tons. In front of such a beast, Wu Song was just a snack.

In one or two years, even if Li Lin grew up like crazy, he was just over one meter tall and weighed several dozen kilograms. The weight of a slap was negligible. Physically, he was a preschooler who had just started to lose his teeth. Li Xiao was very worried.

One day when they were playing together, Li Lin was accidentally kicked to death by a tiger.

He decisively confiscated Li Lin's tiger, which resulted in Li Lin crying for several days. Several times, he pestered Li Xiao, saying that he could write a hundred characters a day in exchange for the poor big cat.

"They don't have tigers at home. They are two wolves who are here to eat. Tomorrow your fourth uncle will come and you will follow him back to the capital. The wind and sand in the northwest are strong and it is not suitable for you to stay here." Li Xiao patted Li Xiao.

Lin's head, the child is too young, so let him spend a happy childhood. A child whose teeth haven't started to recede spends all day among a bunch of killers. It's strange that he can learn well...

"I don't want to go back to the capital. The weather here is very good and no one is forcing me to write big characters."

Although Li Xiao knew that the key point was that no one forced him to write big characters. He still looked up at the sky. The sky in the northwest was very blue and the clouds were very white, like balls of cotton hanging in the sky.

In spring, the northwest wind is strong and there are many sandstorms. Li Xiao led tens of thousands of troops to guard Hami. It is not a wise choice to rush forward at this time. It is better to wait until summer, when there are no sandstorms, and the airship can freely take off for reconnaissance before attacking.
Chapter completed!