When Yun Chu was receiving education in school, the professor once said something that he thought was a joke. After becoming an official in the Tang Dynasty to a certain extent, he began to re-examine what the professor said.
"Small politics depends on the government but not on the people; big politics depends on the people but not on the government."
This sentence means that people with less political achievements think about problems from the court rather than the people, while people with greater political achievements think from the people rather than the court.
This sentence is meaningful to those who have reached a certain level of officialdom.
Yunchu is actually at this watershed now.
When he first became an official, Yunchu's vision was always on the court. Even though he did a lot of things in Wannian County, his ultimate goal was to attract the attention of the emperor and even the ministers.
It was different later. After he secured his position, he basically did half the work for the people and half for the court.
Now, going to the Western Regions is purely for the development of Chang'an City. It can also be said that it is purely for the sake of the people.
The Tang Dynasty was the most glorious era of Chang'an City, but unfortunately this glory eventually turned into a swan song.
The decline of Chang'an began with Li Zhi's elevation of Luoyang's status...
The most important reason why Chang'an is prosperous is that it is connected to the Western Regions. Merchants from all over the world came in droves, creating a prosperity that was different from Chang'an in previous years.
The potential of Guanzhong has been basically exhausted in order to supply the huge city of Chang'an. Since the water in the lake in Guanzhong is not enough to support Chang'an, Yunchu wants to widen the commercial river running from the Western Regions to Chang'an.
In order to prevent Chang'an from gradually declining because it does not have a lot of capital resources after the emperor went to Luoyang with all the civil and military officials.
For this reason, he is willing to use the power that Chang'an City can control to formally clear all obstacles that are not conducive to trade on the road from the Western Regions to Chang'an.
Therefore, there will definitely be a bloodshed along the way.
"This two hundred and five is getting anxious..." After Li Zhi read Yun Chu's memorial, he put it aside lightly and said to Wu Mei, who was sitting by the stream and bathing his feet.
Wu Mei took the memorial and glanced at it and said, "The capital of the gods is about to be built, and it is imperative to move the court. Yunchu's dream will eventually turn into ashes. He is struggling to his death."
Li Zhi let go of the giant bear's round ears, picked up the memorial and read it again and said, "It's quite unique. He swept away the bandits along the way and gained a lot. However, a Guanzhong Marquis wanted to gain money to strengthen Chang'an City by destroying bandits. How much?
It is disgraceful to the court.”
Wu Mei smiled and said, "Your Majesty, don't you doubt his ability?"
Li Zhi laughed loudly and said, "I don't think it will be difficult for a wise general and a strong general who is invincible on the battlefield of Liaodong to kill a group of horse thieves, bandits, and bandits."
"He will also organize an unprecedentedly large caravan to do business in the Western Regions and continue to promote the wealth and prosperity of Chang'an City. He is preparing to compete with Chang'an City and the capital of the gods, which is quite disrespectful."
Li Zhi looked at Wu Mei in confusion and said, "Chang'an City belongs to me, and the city of Gods also belongs to me. Where did the disrespectful thoughts you mentioned come from?"
Wu Mei smiled and said, "If the gods really can't compare to Chang'an..." ...
Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "I don't care! The more he does such things, the more stable my empire will be."
Wu Mei was speechless for a moment and said, "I always feel that this matter is not as simple as he said."
Li Zhi sneered and said, "Are you talking about Prince Beluz? Do you think I don't know?"
Wu Mei looked at Li Zhi and sighed, "Your Majesty is wise and wise."
Li Zhi handed Yunchu's memorial to Wu Mei and said, "That's right."
Wu Mei asked in surprise, "Is it approved? Is everything approved? Your Majesty allows Pei Xingjian to be appointed as the Protector of Anxi?"
Li Zhidao said, "Pei Xingjian has been having a hard time recently. I sympathize with him and allow him to leave the civil service and move to the position of Governor of Anxi."
"Hasn't His Majesty already decided to send Xue Rengui as the Protector of Anxi?"
"Xue Rengui went to Beiting Protectorate to take office"
When Wu Mei heard what the emperor said, Yun Danfengqing's face changed.
He had to become solemn, pull his snow-white feet out of the stream, quietly put on his socks and shoes.
Then he said to Li Zhi, "Yunchu went to the Western Regions, Pei Xingjian went to Anxi, Xue Rengui went to Beiting, Guo Daifeng went to Anton, and now..."
Li Zhi said impatiently, "Send out all the people who should be sent out. This will make it appear that there is no one around me, so that those rebellious officials and traitors can take advantage of the opportunity."
Wu Mei quickly said, "Your Majesty, you must not be vindictive."
Li Zhi looked down at Wu Mei and said, "They are gone. Isn't there still a queen by my side?"
Wu Mei raised her head suddenly and looked at the emperor in astonishment and said, "How is this possible? It's too dangerous."
Li Zhi put his hands into the sleeves of his broad robe, looked at the mountains and said, "I am the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. To deal with a guilty official, I only need to send a jailer. This is how an emperor should behave."
"
Wu Mei looked at the emperor noncommittally. For the first time, she felt that the emperor might have been overconfident. She did not believe that the Changsun family would surrender, let alone that the nobles and nobles of Guan Long would stand by and watch what happened to the Changsun family.
However, at this moment, the emperor seemed very confident.
When Yunchu received the emperor's order, it was already five days later.
The emperor allowed the two counties of Wan Chang'an to organize local people to go out of Yumen Pass to do business with the countries in the far west. He also gave Yunchu a gold medal that allowed him to do things easily after leaving Yumen Pass.
With this gold medal, Yun Chu can act according to his own ideas outside Yumen Pass.
However, as a restriction, five people from Baiqisi must join the caravan heading west, and must also serve as Yunchu and Wenrou's personal guards.
These things were all expected. The emperor did not let anyone from Baiqisi serve as the nominal leader of the caravan, which was a rare show of trust and favor for Yun Chu.
When Zhang Donghai, the captain of Baiqi Division, saw Yun Chu, he was so ashamed that he couldn't even lift his head.
Yun Chu, however, acted very indifferent. He just felt sorry for Zhang Donghai. He had turned into a captain and now became a captain of Baiqisi. It really couldn't be said to be a good thing.
Judging from the futures of both of them, Captain Zhechong, who is in charge of the army of the prefecture, is definitely a career with a bright future as long as he does not have a rebellious heart. Many generals and generals in the Tang Dynasty came from the position of Captain Zhechong.
.…
As long as he takes one step further to the position of Captain Zhechong, he will be the official general of the Sixteenth Guards of the Tang Dynasty. If he does well in the position of general, he will be able to join the ranks of the elders of the Tang army in the future.
The captains of Baiqisi were very powerful, far more powerful than Captain Zhechong, and were considered the most trusted people by the emperor. However, in the eyes of Baiguan, these people were just servants of the royal family, hawks and dogs, and they were incompatible with Baiguan.
No matter how rich and powerful we are, we are still not as good as these genuine officials.
The five Baiqi Division captains who came were led by Zhang Donghai, which was a good thing for Yun Chu.
"It's a pity that Wang Defa didn't come. If he had come, we would have all the troops."
Yun Chu smiled and threw a bottle of wine to Zhang Donghai.
When Zhang Donghai saw Yun Chu treating him as usual, he felt ashamed and said, "It was Zhang Donghai's honor to fight alongside the general in Liaodong in the past."
Yun Chu took a sip of wine and said, "Everything goes smoothly for us in Liaodong, and this is indispensable for your kind words in front of His Majesty. Since you are doing this job, you naturally have the obligation to keep it secret. Why do you feel embarrassed? There is no need."
.
Speaking of which, we are ministers of the same palace, but our division of labor is slightly different.
It's better if you come. We will still form an army this time when we go out, and I have also applied for a lot of gunpowder ammunition. You have to organize these rabble into a well-disciplined army before we set off.
Just as Your Majesty allowed me to act cheaply after leaving Yumen Pass, you can also act cheaply when training the army."
After listening to Yunchu's arrangements, Zhang Donghai's heart, which was originally a little ashamed, finally felt at ease. The general's trust in him remained the same as before, and he also entrusted him with the important task of organizing and training the army. Obviously, after leaving the fortress,
His main task is still to unify
Lead the army.
Yunchu was very busy and arranged Zhang Donghai's errands in a few words, and then began to discuss the types of goods accompanying the army with Master Wan.
In view of Yunchu's understanding of the people from the Western Regions, this time the caravan would only bring a small amount of silk, paper and a small amount of semi-porcelain with three-color glaze produced in the Tang Dynasty.
These good things are for exchange with customers such as local kings and clan leaders in the Western Regions.
This time Yunchu went to the Western Regions, his main focus was on the vast market of ordinary herdsmen, a huge market that had never been tapped before.
Silk, paper, books, pens, ink, and porcelain have nothing to do with ordinary herdsmen.
What they need are iron pots, teapots, milk jugs, wine bottles, meat knives, shearing shears, awls for sewing cowhide and sheepskin, needles and threads, iron sticks for fixing tents, axes, saws, etc.
The paint smeared on the dead was made from tea that could help them increase their vitamins.
Tea has never been used to relieve fatigue in the pastoral areas of the Western Regions, because most herdsmen have no need to relieve fatigue at all. Even if they are sheep herders, there are not many opportunities to eat beef and mutton throughout the year.
Just like silkworm farmers cannot afford silk.
As the people in Wannian County and Chang'an County began to mobilize, more and more people followed the county officials to go to the Western Regions to make money.
Based on the previous precedent of following the county leader to make a fortune in Liaodong, Yunchu received a list of tens of thousands of people in just three days.
Zuo Wuwei's entire army only had 12,000 men. Naturally, Yun Chu could not bring such a large army to the Western Regions, otherwise it would not be doing business, but going to the Western Regions to carry out an organized and purposeful collective robbery.
Three thousand people, this was a number that Yun Chu, Wen Wen, and Di Renjie came up with after careful consideration. Taking into account the 1,000 people traveling with the caravan, it would be a good choice to limit the number of people leaving the fortress to around 4,000.
As the commander of the training army, Zhang Donghai had trained 3,000 people out of tens of thousands. He was shocked to find that before his eyes, a majestic army with well-equipped equipment and no need for training appeared.