Li Xingzai returned to the city lord's palace, read the newly received information again, and then placed it on the commander's case.
"The news just came through. Ten days ago, he appeared in Yanzhou and encountered Yanzhou soldiers. His whereabouts are unknown since then."
Li Xingzai tapped his fingers on the table, thinking about this matter in his mind. He had not been in Luofeng City for a long time, and he had temporarily stabilized the situation. Of course, the situation was far from ideal. After that, he selected
There are people specially responsible for collecting intelligence, but there are not many people available, so the news reaches here a little later.
"Can you confirm it's him?" Li Xingzai asked worriedly.
"It has been confirmed for the time being that the King of Yanzhou has sent out experts to mobilize the troops. Judging from this movement, the enemy's background is not simple. Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and Jizhou have made corresponding arrangements, and the recruitment halls have sent out experts."
"Tsk, why is he here?" Li Xingzai sighed and said to himself: "Why don't you just stay in Liangzhou and go to the East China Sea?"
"My subordinates have ordered us to investigate. If there is any information, we will report it to the king immediately."
"That's it, that's it." Li Xingzai waved his hand: "There are so many things going on in the city that we can no longer spare the manpower to do this. General Qi, don't try to do everything yourself. You should rest when you should. After all, your health is important."
Li Xingzai was really worried that Qi Jiguang would have a headache and a fever. Since Qi Jiguang came to Luofeng City, Li Xingzai suddenly became more powerful, and he seemed to be able to solve the bad problems that he originally had no way to deal with.
However, the manpower in Luofeng City was still too small. All the things were burdened on Qi Jiguang alone, and no one could share the burden with him.
Qi Jiguang's eyes were filled with heat, and he knelt down with a thud: "A scholar dies for a confidant. If he can worry about the king, his subordinates will not hesitate to do so."
"Okay, okay, get up and talk, you and I don't need to do this."
Li Xingzai hurriedly helped him up and poured a cup of tea for Qi Jiguang himself. Of course, the city lord's mansion had no servants available.
"Ignore Cheng Dalei's problems for now. Our own affairs are more important. Since the garrison in the city was handed over to General Qi for rectification, the military appearance has changed. We have won several battles to annihilate pirates. Today we have another victory.
After wiping out a small wave of pirates, I estimate that no pirates will easily disturb our Luofeng City." Li Xingzai paused and said, "However, our military strength is still too weak, and the city's defenders, including those recently recruited, are still weak.
There are only more than a thousand people. If you want to fight, you still need soldiers."
"My subordinate has already thought about this problem and figured out a way."
"Oh, General Qi is really worried about what I have not thought about and what I have not worried about. If you have any ideas, please tell me." Li Xingzai said quickly.
"The land in Luofeng City is barren and there are powerful enemies around it. But Luofeng City also has a specialty that is not found in other places."
"What specialty product?" Li Xingzai was a little confused: "Is it iron or copper? I've been here for a while, but I've never heard of it."
"It's a pirate."
"Uh..." Li Xingzai was speechless.
"Pirates are active on the sea. Sometimes they go ashore to plunder, and sometimes they rob ships passing by. There is a lot of wealth on the small islands they occupy."
"You mean, pirates rob merchants, we rob pirates, and let groups of pirates become our wallets?" Li Xingzai opened his eyes wide, and then immediately shook his head: "No, no, it's easy to say, but we have to go to sea.
The cost of wiping out pirates is not a small sum of money. It requires both money to build ships and troops to fight. But the key is, I have no use for either of these things."
"If you have soldiers, you won't have to worry about having money; if you have money, you won't have to worry about having soldiers."
"But what if you don't have both things?" Li Xingzai asked angrily.
Qi Jiguang had no need to answer. To be precise, there was no way to answer. Even though he was extremely talented and extremely talented in military training, it was difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw, and some things could not be accomplished with just the brain.
"Okay, okay." Li Xingzai comforted: "We don't ask for speed. If we don't have money, we will slowly find a way. If there are no pirates, there will be bandits. The same is true for robbing them. We will develop step by step. When we have money to build ships,
Let’s go pirate again.”
"Your Majesty is right."
"Report!"
A soldier came from outside. After saluting Li Xingzai, he said, "Your Majesty, there is someone outside the door asking to see you."
"Oh, who is he? Bring him to see me."
Li Xingzai has also been recruiting troops recently. Although he has no financial resources to support him, some blind people will inevitably join him. For example, Qi Jiguang is a famous general sent to him by heaven.
He is also looking forward to whether this time someone like Qi Jiguang, who is relatively blind but has a good brain, will come to seek refuge with him.
As he watched eagerly, he saw a group of people pouring in from outside the door, led by an old man with white hair and no beard. He immediately knelt down as he walked into the hall:
"Your Excellency, the Sixth Prince, please bow to me, so that I can see His Highness."
Li Xingzai was a little confused. He saw that there were seven or eight people in this group. Everyone was dressed in rich clothes and looked arrogant. Judging from what they were wearing, they must all be rich.
"Old man, please get up quickly. What are you talking about? Why are you like this?" Li Xingzai walked out of the handsome case and wanted to help the old man up.
But the old man was obviously very excited, with tears streaming down his face. It was very difficult for Li Xingzai to help him up.
"Sun Delong, the third-grade eunuch of the old servant, came to see the sixth prince and begged His Highness to forgive me for my sins."
Li Xingzai was still a little confused and didn't know what was going on.
This old man is Sun Delong, the old eunuch who was the head of the Cao Gang in Qianzhou City, Yangzhou, and who escaped from the capital with Emperor Ming. Although Emperor Ming is dead, Sun Delong's loyalty to the empire has never changed. Now that he has learned that Li Xingzai has been named Xiaoyao King,
So he took his men and came to seek refuge.
That happened more than thirty years ago. At that time, Li Xingzai was not yet born and had no idea who Sun Delong was. He listened to Sun Delong's words intermittently and finally understood the whole story.
One word in particular made Li Xingzai's heart tremble: Caobang.
Caobang is very rich.
"More than thirty years have passed since we separated from the late emperor. Who would have expected that the late emperor has passed away." Sun Delong choked with sobs: "I have three thousand people in the Cao Gang, big and small, and they are all willing to serve in front of His Highness and break their bones for His Highness.
Don’t hesitate to do anything.”
"What you say is serious, what you are saying is serious." Li Xingzai hurriedly won over people's hearts: "The empire has such a loyal minister like you, so why worry about not being able to help the country and create a prosperous age again."
"Your Highness, a few years ago, you sent people to Jiangnan to collect food. After that, did things go smoothly?"
Li Xingzai blinked: "What happened in the past few years?"