The imperial edict issued by Lin Zhe was ostensibly to reward Cai Erhu, but in fact it had a deeper purpose, which was to avoid the situation in Jiguan Mountain before: all the captured young bandits were divided between Fang Dongquan and Huang Xueren.
Based on this, Li Xuan directly imitated the situation when Huang Xueren surrendered: he was granted a great title!
He named Cai Erhu the General of Suppressing the West and gave him the title of Suppressing the West Army.
As for Li Xuan, who didn't even see Cai Erhu, he couldn't care less about whether this person was unreliable. In short, he felt that instead of two generals with heavy troops in the Tang Dynasty, it would be better to have three or even three generals.
Four, five or even more generals with heavy troops.
It is Li Xuan's established plan to control the growth rate of Fang Dongquan and Huang Xueren's strength for a long time in the future and support more generals to divide the military power of these two people. Its importance is second only to resisting the Ming army.
After all, there are many factions below, and he, as the emperor, should feel at ease. Otherwise, he would always worry about the Fangdong Plenary Meeting leading people into the "Imperial Palace" one day.
Speaking of which, it has been more than half a year since he came to this era. Li Xuan often dreams about his death. He is either captured by the Ming army and beheaded, executed by Ling Chi, etc., or he dreams about the Ming army defeating the bandits of the Tang Dynasty.
In the end, he threw himself into a well or a hanging beam at the last moment when the enemy troops came over. Sometimes he would dream that Fang Dongquan led countless armored soldiers into the palace and chopped him up, and then Fang Dongquan laughed and sat on the dragon throne.
As the saying goes, what you think about every day is what you dream about at night. These dreams represent the two situations that Li Xuan is most worried and afraid of: being defeated by the Ming army; and his subordinates rebelling!
No matter which of these two situations it is, it is inevitable for Li Xuan!
The only thing that gave him some peace of mind was that Bai Yunqi had gradually convinced most of the Ming army prisoners. Among the more than 60 Ming army prisoners before, except for seven or eight stubborn ones, they still refused to surrender.
, the remaining fifty or so people have chosen to submit one after another under threats and inducements, and joined Bai Yunqi's standing army rear army.
In addition, what gave Li Xuan even more peace of mind and even some confidence in the future was that the Guards he personally trained was gradually taking shape, and the number of them was slowly growing with the growth of the Tang Dynasty's population.
From more than 20 people at the beginning, we now have more than 50 people.
Later, Li Xuan planned to continue to select soldiers of suitable age from the people of Jiguanshan, Black Tiger Village, and Huangguishan who had surrendered. He estimated that he should be able to select thirty or forty more people.
In this way, the number of guards under his direct control can reach more than 80 people!
With the Guards and the standing army under Bai Yunqi's command, the power directly under the control of the 'royal family' can reach more than a hundred people. At that time, I will have enough confidence to compete with Fang Dongquan, Huang Xueren and others.
And get rid of the current embarrassing status of puppet emperor and gain real power.
Once he can gain real power, Li Xuan will not hesitate to implement a series of reform plans he has conceived.
Among these reform plans, the most important is undoubtedly the military reform!
The armed force of the Tang Dynasty must not be a group of bandits. It must be an army, and it must also be an elite army with strict military discipline and distinct services.
Because only in this way can the Tang army with a small population and fewer soldiers be able to resist the Ming army's attack!
Only if the Tang Dynasty is destroyed can Li Xuan survive!
The Guards currently being trained is, to a certain extent, a preliminary experiment for Li Xuan. Only through the Guards can he test out: If he wants to have an elite army in this era, how should he train it and what kind of troops should he use?
tactics, and what equipment to use.
But those are things for the future. Now for Li Xuan and the Tang Dynasty, accepting and arranging the follow-up Black Tiger Village and the prisoners of Huang Guishan is a big deal.
Because the weather was cold and snowy, the team escorting the old and weak prisoners of Black Tiger Village moved slowly and arrived at Huangzhu Mountain two days later than previously expected.
When more than 300 people arrived at Huangzhu Mountain, Liu Bagou took everyone and arranged for them to stay in a temporary wooden house one by one.
As for other daily necessities, such as clothing and even food, Liu Bagou and the others actually don't have to worry too much, because although the people from Black Tiger Village were escorted here after surrendering, most of them basically gave their belongings to
Brought it.
For these people, moving from Heihu Village to Huangzhushan did not actually change much, they just changed the wooden house they lived in.
However, there are still a few people who lack food and clothing due to various reasons. These people are the ones Liu Bagou and the others need to take care of. It is necessary to distribute rice, food and even clothes.
After a busy day, a tired-looking Liu Bagou came to Li Xuan: "Your Majesty, the people in Black Tiger Village have initially settled down!"
Li Xuan said: "That's good, Prime Minister, thank you for your hard work!"
Liu Bagou said: "Serving Your Majesty, how can I have to work so hard? It's not too late to be happy!"
Li Xuan said: "Today, the people sent by the palace to purchase goods outside the mountain came back, and they brought back several jars of fine wine. When I turn around, the prime minister will bring a jar back!"
When Liu Bagou heard this, he was about to refuse as usual, but after hesitating for a while, he finally did not say it, but said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your gift!"
Li Xuan saw his expression and immediately smiled. He knew that Liu Bagou liked to drink, but there was not much wine in Huangzhu Mountain now, only a few wines secretly purchased from outside.
Now the Ming army outside has blocked the main access to the mountain. It is impossible for large-scale people to enter and exit. Only a few people can enter and exit through small roads.
During this period, the Tang Dynasty would also send a small number of purchasers to sneak out of the mountains to purchase some necessary daily necessities.
The most important material among them is a material that may seem very ordinary to later generations, but was very important in this era: salt!
There is no salt produced in the mountains, and it is impossible for people not to eat salt. If you want to ensure the supply of salt, you can only buy it from outside the mountains.
But purchasing supplies requires money. Unfortunately, there was not much money in the Tang Dynasty, and almost all of it was in the hands of the Queen Mother, Mrs. Bai.
There was little silver in Huangzhushan itself. At the beginning, there was only a small amount of fine cash that Mrs. Bai carried with her when she fled, and these silvers were later used to buy grain and salt.
After attacking Shuilong Village and defeating the Ming army, they seized a small amount of cash, just over a hundred taels of cash and some gold and silver jewelry. However, all of this money was taken away by Empress Dowager Bai. Her reason was simple:
All her money had been used to buy grain and salt, and now the money seized had to be given back to her.
Liu Bagou refused at first, saying that the money was spoils of war and should be returned to the state treasury, but Mrs. Bai pointed directly at his nose and scolded: "The country is a piece of shit, that's my private money!"
As soon as she spoke, she sent a few old women under her to snatch the money directly!