After reaching a deal with Xue Rengui, Yun Chu felt that something was not going well.
Because Xue Rengui has never been a person who thinks on a whim, the reason why the veterans like this person is really because he is a loyal person.
The first condition for what veterans call loyalty is to be obedient and not make your own decisions.
Since Xue Rengui is not a person who likes to make his own decisions, then plundering the eight Khitan tribes should be a strategy of the Tang army.
Because when Emperor Taizong conquered Goguryeo, he attacked ten cities in Goguryeo including Xiangping, Wugu, Jian'an, and Gaimou. Only Anshi city could not be captured for a long time. As a result, the weather was cold and food transportation was poor, so he was forced to withdraw.
After the Tang army withdrew, ten cities including Xiangping, Wugu, Jian'an, and Gaimou were recaptured by Goguryeo.
At that time, Emperor Taizong also accompanied the Khitan, Xi, Mohe and other tribes on the eastern expedition. At first, they were still able to survive, but later, after Emperor Taizong retreated, these tribes shamelessly defected to Goguryeo.
Taizong did not take it seriously at the time, and said that because Goguryeo was so powerful, these small tribes were not easy to behave, so he did not punish them. Instead, he issued an order to promote the leaders of Bohai, Khitan, Kumoxi, Mohe, Shiwei and other tribes.
They were allowed to communicate with the Tang Dynasty in the names of Songmo Dudufu, Bohai Dudufu, Heishui Dudufu, and Shiwei Dudufu.
Unfortunately, the only one willing to accept the canonization of the Tang Dynasty was the Songmo Governor's Mansion of the Khitan.
This made the people of the Tang Dynasty deeply resentful, and they all felt that the barbarians here were unreliable.
Therefore, there were no aliens from Liaodong among the troops in the Eastern Expedition this time.
In other words, Li Ji had to deal with not only Goguryeo during this eastern expedition, but also the various barbarians here.
Yun Chu really didn't understand how to deal with these barbarians on the land of Liaodong. These barbarians were either herdsmen or hunters. Except for the Bohai people who knew how to plant some fields, the other tribes could not be found even if they tried to find them.
Could it be said that the army was sent there just to burn down some of the temporary settlements built by those people?
Li Ji is not a fool. If Yun Chu can think about it, he can definitely think about it in the longer term.
And Xue Rengui firmly believed that he would be able to get the Khitan people's cattle and sheep, which only shows that this matter is very feasible.
If you exchange three days of military rations for three days of meat and cheese, this business should be really doable.
After reaching a deal with Xue Rengui, Yunchu quickly returned to his camp. He felt that the level of information between himself, Xue Rengui and Pei Xingjian was very asymmetric.
The former director of the Palace Gate Bureau, Lao Huang, went out to socialize, and when he came back, he told Yunchu that Qibi Heli's vanguard team had left Yanzhou, and their target was not Goguryeo, but the eight Khitan tribes that were very close at hand.
The reason why they set off in a hurry when the army was low on food and grass was because it was spring and the Khitan pastures were nearby. Moreover, two of the eight Khitan tribes had secretly defected to the Tang Dynasty and they were willing to provide the Tang army with food and supplies.
The locations of the remaining six departments.
Yun Chu couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. The army is an army after all, and he himself is a powerful violent group.
Li Ji never believed that the army would starve when fully equipped. As an old bandit, he never believed that preparing food and fodder for the army was only a matter for the local government. A good army must do
A good army is only when it feeds on the enemy.
After all, everything the army does must be aimed at weakening the enemy's strength.
When Emperor Taizong failed to attack Anshi for a long time, resulting in a shortage of food and cold clothes, he had to retreat and surrendered all the results of the previous battles. He, Li Ji, was one of the partial troops.
Now that he has become the commander-in-chief of the army, how could he make the same mistake again?
Therefore, on the way to Goguryeo, the Tang army also had the important mission of turning Liaodong into a no-man's land.
This is what Li Ji claimed to have promised to keep Liaodong safe for twenty years.
Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. Once the existing barbarians are cleared out, Liaodong will return to its prehistoric state and everything will naturally be safe.
After another twenty or thirty years, the army will come again to clean up the area. If this is repeated several times, no one will want to live in Liaodong.
This is the standard thinking of soldiers. They only have one tool in their hands, and that is a hammer. The function of the hammer is to smash everything that is unpleasant to the eyes or that will hurt them, or smash them to death.
As for how to govern and develop Liaodong, that is a matter for the civil servants and has nothing to do with the military.
Wen Wenwen came back. When she came back, she not only brought back two thousand loads of grain and ten thousand bunches of fodder, but also three people.
All three people have the surname Wang, the eldest is called Wang Zhao, the second is called Wang Du, and the third is called Wang Cheng.
These are three thieves who are very eager to obtain a household registration in the capital.
In order to achieve this goal, they were not only willing to contribute all their family's grain reserves to Yun Chu, but they were also willing to donate a very important topographic map of Liaodong.
From what Wen Rou said, this map almost identifies the pastures of most tribes in Liaodong, as well as the Cat Winter Land, as well as a large number of seasonal trading venues that only these locals know about.
It can be called a priceless treasure.
Yunchu didn't care at all about the three brothers' identities as thieves, because their businesses were all in Liaodong, not Hebei Province.
Now, the youngest of the three brothers is already forty years old, and is tired of the days of licking blood with a knife. He hopes to go to Chang'an City and use his savings over the years to become a wealthy man safely.
He also wanted to clear his identity so that his descendants could get rid of their identity as thieves and become wealthy families in the Tang Dynasty.
Facing such useful people, Yun Chu naturally treated them with courtesy and pretended not to see their identity as thieves. Anyway, no one among the thieves was as big as Li Ji when he was a bandit.
After accepting the obeisances of the three brothers calmly, Wang Zhao, the eldest brother, took out a parchment scroll from his arms and dedicated it to Yun Chu.
"General, what is recorded here is the pastures of various tribes in Liaodong that were deliberately described by the three brothers and my father and ancestors when they were doing business in Liaodong for several generations, as well as the paths used to sneak past the Goguryeo city gates."
Yun Chu took the map and tried hard to verify it with the map of Northeast China in his mind. After asking two captains to compare these road maps with the military maps of the Tang Dynasty, he found that this thing was very credible.
In the evening, Yun Chu, who had been busy with paperwork all day, met with the three Wang brothers again.
He rubbed his brows and said to Mr. Wang tiredly: "I won't tell you any lies.
The map you brought has been determined by military advisers to be more than 70% credible. As long as it is tested in practice, it is feasible for you brothers to use this map to exchange for a stable and undisturbed life in Chang'an.
I also told the truth, give me the food and the map. After the three brothers led the army to confirm the final authenticity of the map, our deal was concluded.
However, for the sake of stability, your two hundred and twenty-seven family members must set off for Wannian County, Chang'an from now on.
There will be houses and various arrangements there. If you brothers want to do business in Chang'an, Wannian County will also provide you with great convenience.
If there are disciples in the clan who are interested in studying, it is not difficult to recommend them to study in the Four Schools.
So, what we have to do now is to thoroughly authenticate your map. At this time, you have to travel with the army to Liaodong, what do you think?"
When the three brothers heard this, they looked up at Yun Chu and said, "The villain guarantees with the heads of the whole clan that this map is true.
But I don’t know how the county magistrate can guarantee that your promise to my three brothers is true, and how you can guarantee that our three brothers will not become meat on the chopping board when we arrive in Chang’an.”
Yun Chu smiled and said: "Since you have dealings with people doing business in Chang'an, I think you have heard of my reputation for keeping my promises.
Otherwise, you would not have found Chang Shi and entrusted your life and fortune to me so easily.
I look down upon the wealth you have accumulated over several lifetimes. A two-story building in Chang'an can accommodate a family of ten, and it will cost two hundred and fifty guan.
There are more than 200 people in the family. Just the money spent to buy a small building has basically wiped out your family wealth.
And the most important thing is that all the small buildings you purchased were built by me. In other words, I don’t have to plot against you. Your money will still go into my pocket in the end.
Now, you don't need to consider whether I will plot against you. You only need to consider how to get more benefits with my army.
After all, Chang'an is a big place and difficult to live in. There will be many places that will need money in the future. As long as you can lead us to find the thieves' lair, you will definitely have a share of what the army gains."
Wang Zhao hesitated for a moment, then immediately gritted his teeth and said: "Sure, but our brothers still have a hundred companions. I hope the general will allow our brothers to take them with them when doing business."
There are many old brothers inside who have recently returned from doing business there, so they are very familiar with the route."
Yun Chu said calmly: "No matter how many of you there are, in the end, you can only get 10%. I am not stingy, but I want to prepare for the eastern expedition of the army."
After Wang Zhao discussed it with his two brothers for a while, he immediately said to Yun Chu: "Okay, our brothers will hand over these hundred catties to the county elder. I just hope the county elder will not betray me."
After listening to Wang Zhao's words, Yun Chu and Wen Wen looked at each other and smiled, and Wen Wen said to Wang Zhao, my county minister always strives to achieve a win-win result when doing things, and anyone who has cooperated with my county minister is still unsatisfied."
The three Wang Zhao brothers also laughed when they heard this. After all, they learned from fellow villagers from Hebei Province who went to Chang'an to do business that the words of the Wannian County magistrate could really be used as money in Chang'an.
After getting Yunchu's hint, the two Zhechong captains boldly took the three Wang brothers to dinner.
I believe that they will be able to get along with each other soon. After all, sometimes officers and soldiers and bandits are the ones who have the most in common.