Li Xiang felt much more at ease when he saw the familiar city. In recent days, he felt that there were many eyes around him.
He would not take his own people seriously when he was seriously injured, but he could not ignore the forces and powerful people standing behind these people.
These people existed a long time ago, but in his heyday, he did not bother to take these people seriously.
But now that he was seriously injured, he had to pay attention to his image and actions. He couldn't show that he was injured, and he couldn't let those people see that he was injured or that there was something strange about his body.
As long as those people feel that something is wrong, endless assassinations will be waiting for him. Assassinations by ordinary strong men are not in his mind, but what if they are from the same level as a grand master?
This is one of the reasons why Li Xiang agreed to follow Zhang Qingyun back to Xiliang.
If he had been before, he would never have come back, but chose to continue fighting on the grassland.
It's different now, he is not just a person, there is a big family waiting for him behind him, sons, daughters and women, they are counting on him and watching him.
Once he falls, the consequences will be disastrous.
So when he saw the city of Xiliang, Li Xiang felt much more at ease. Jiuyuan County was his home ground!
Thirdly, he has hundreds of thousands of Xiliang headquarters soldiers, a large number of cavalry, and an extremely large number of great masters. Although they are all sent by him to guard various areas at a certain distance.
But for a Grand Master, that distance is only a small amount of time when traveling at full speed. Although he is seriously injured now, he can withstand even a Grand Master for about half a day!
Boom!
When Li Xiang's ship arrived, a black cavalry appeared at the dock not far away.
Because the Xiliang Navy was not in this area of water, the boats Li Xiang took were the same as those of ordinary soldiers, and there were not many troops guarding them around.
Just like the scale of his trip before, he did not summon too many soldiers to guard him, especially to avoid making those people suspicious. Without the protection of the Xiliang Navy, no matter how many soldiers were around, it would be of little use.
So it is better to do the opposite, just like in the past, so that those people will not feel much change.
Anyway, not many people know that Prime Minister Li was attacked by the Qiang's inherited magical weapons on the small grassland. If a large number of soldiers were mobilized to guard the surrounding area, it would be a bit of a waste of three hundred taels of silver!
But now that we have arrived in Xiliang, there are a large number of soldiers from Xiliang headquarters around Tongtian City, and no force can hurt Prime Minister Li here.
This black cavalry is an army that Zhang Qingyun sent back before. The leader is the city's guarding general, the lord of Tongtian City, Li Shui!
The leader of the five naval armies of Xiliang!
After Li Shui received the news that Li Xiang was seriously injured, he was very anxious, but he quickly calmed down and called the most elite cavalry from the surrounding areas.
And they have sent people to notify the officers in the major cities along the way that when the lord disembarks from the ship, he will be escorted directly to Jiuyuan City by soldiers from the Xiliang headquarters. Apart from the soldiers from the Xiliang headquarters, there will be no other arms along the way!
Deep in their hearts, neither the Eighth, Seventh, or Ninth Legions have gained the heartfelt trust of these soldiers. Even if they already trust these people, they will not put their lord's life and safety on these.
On the soldiers.
The human heart is the most unpredictable thing!
"Lord!" Li Shui saluted Li Xiang respectfully. Li Xiang, who got off the boat and was dressed in black, nodded slightly: "You don't need an escort. They will escort me. This city needs you."
As he said this, Li Xiang couldn't help but laugh: "I guess many people regret it now. You will be busy later!"
Li Xiang's face gradually returned to a pale color. He was depleted of energy and blood and could not recover in a short time. This required a lot of nutrients, that is, the flesh and blood of those ferocious beasts.
The spies from various major forces who have been lurking in the surroundings can see it very clearly at this time. Whether you seem to be seriously injured or pretend to be seriously injured, they will send this news back as soon as possible.
It won't be long before a large number of spies and assassins will rush from all regions of the Central Plains to Jiuyuan County in the northwest. The busiest city at that time is Tongtianhe City!
"The general will understand!" Li Shui also knew how attractive it would be to the major forces and emperors in the Central Plains once the news of Li Xiang's serious injury spread. However, Tongtian Hecheng is one of the only interfaces between Jiuyuan County and the Central Plains.
First, if those assassins want to enter Jiuyuan County, they must first pass him!
Li Xiang patted Li Shui on the shoulder: "I'll leave this to you!"
Riding on Xing Liao who also came off the boat, under the protection of the black cavalry, he slowly walked towards Jiuyuan County.
There were also a large number of treasures that came back with Li Xiang. These were obtained from the major tribes in the grassland. On the grassland, these things could only be circulated among the nobles.
But those who own the most of these things are ordinary civilians. These things have little value on the grasslands, but to people in the Central Plains and the Western world, these things are extremely valuable.
Li Xiang brought these things back and planned to sell them to Westerners. Even if the price was much lower than in the Eastern world, he would still sell these things to Westerners.
These things don't have much value to him. It's better to exchange them for more gold and silver. What he lacks most now is gold and silver.
He needed a lot of gold and silver to arm his Xiliang cavalry. In the war with the Qiang people, he knew what his biggest shortcoming was. The number of his soldiers was too small.
Almost every war is fought with a small number against a large number. A Xiliang headquarters soldier will probably face 5 to 10 enemies. Even if the Xiliang headquarters soldiers are very strong, they cannot withstand such an enemy!
So he wants to expand the Xiliang cavalry and expand the size of the Xiliang army, and the transfer of soldiers requires a lot of gold!
He doesn't want his soldiers to be on the battlefield with a small number against a large number. He wants to use a large number to bully the small number!
However, food is also a big problem restricting the development of Xiliang. There is no shortage of practical food, but food used to recruit soldiers.
The larger the population, the more food needs to be stored. Otherwise, there will be problems with food and grass, which may lead to the collapse of Xiliang.
So he must maintain enough food for the entire Xiliang army and civilians for a year!
This prevented him from recruiting civilians at all costs.
Because food is not only consumed by recruiting soldiers, many types of soldiers also spend a lot of food when changing jobs!
After Li Xiang left, the gentle smile on Li Shui's face became extremely grim. He looked at the dock where the boats were coming and going: "Send me an order to have the Second Division of the Xiliang Navy come back. Tongtian River City will start from today."
Military control.”
In Jiuyuan County, the Xiliang army is so domineering. Everyone who lives in Jiuyuan County knows that the people who really rule this land are not the officials, not the northwest yamen, but the people stationed in major cities.
Those armies.
They are the real rulers of Jiuyuan County, and the only leader these armies are loyal to is King Li Xiang of Xiliang!
The Yamen is just an organization that guides Xiliang King Li Xiang to rule Jiuyuan County, and is only responsible for some local government affairs!
All military operations are under the jurisdiction of the army. Once a problem occurs, the army can take charge of the entire city immediately. When military control occurs, it is the army that governs the place, not the officials.
All officials must obey the leadership of the highest officer in the army. If this were in the Central Plains, something would definitely happen, but this is in Jiuyuan County, which is within the scope of Xiliang's rule.
Except for the Qingxi Grassland, the top ruling officials in various places are not members of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Legions. They are all soldiers from the Xiliang headquarters serving as the top officers of these places!
When these Xiliang headquarters officers feel that there are serious problems in the local area, they can directly implement military control to rule the entire area.
This is a law that was just promulgated at the beginning of this year. When this law first came out, everyone knew why this law came into being.
Because many people and officials rose up last year to resist the local power of the Xiliang army. Those people thought that they would obtain local power and some rights in terms of force.
But when they saw this law, they knew that their status with Xiliang King Li Xiang might not be as good as those soldiers.
"Trade in the Central Plains is temporarily suspended. No ships are allowed to approach Tongtian River City. If there are ships that have reached the halfway point, they will be ordered to return directly to Shanshui City." Li Shui said to his guards indifferently: "If anyone
If you are not convinced, let him come to me!"
Tongtianhe City has become an important economic center. Who made it the first port for trade between Xiliang and the Central Plains, with countless ships coming and going every day!
Once Lishui's order is issued, it will cause market turmoil, causing heavy losses to countless people, and there will also be some financial problems.
After all, the daily taxes here are higher than the annual taxes in cities in other regions, so those people are absolutely unwilling to see this port shut down!
Li Shui had his own plan in mind, and he wanted to tell the major forces clearly that his lord was really injured, and the Xiliang army was gathering to protect him.
Therefore, in order to protect Prime Minister Li, Tongtianhe City will be temporarily closed!
This is his plan. Even if he spreads Xiliang Navy soldiers all over the Tongtian River, he can't stop the major forces from sending spies and assassins. After all, it's not difficult to send a few people to Jiuyuan County.
If they can't go by water, they can go by land. And those masters who want to assassinate Prime Minister Li are at least first-class level or above. The strong men and masters in this city come and go without a trace. Ordinary soldiers alone cannot intercept them.
them.
Therefore, the ban on ships is just a pretense, which is to tell the people of the major forces that King Li Xiang of Xiliang is seriously injured, and you should come here quickly.
Before Li Xiang arrived, Li Shui had already discussed with Li Mu in the north, and they would mobilize some strong men from the sect with Taoist Qingsong and the leader of the Ji Mo Sect.
Now they have set up a big net in Jiuyuan County, waiting for the major forces to send their fish over and drive them over!
There were more and more troops escorting Prime Minister Li along the way. Every time they passed a city, there would be 500 more soldiers behind them. If they were near a place with cavalry, there would be one or two hundred more cavalry.
This resulted in an increasing number of troops surrounding Prime Minister Li, gradually evolving into a huge army.
Wherever the army passed, there was no grass growing. There were originally a large number of trees or bamboo groves on both sides of the official road.
In order to avoid hiding assassins in these places, Xiliang soldiers directly cut down the trees and bamboo forests on both sides of the road, and even the thicker dead branches and leaves were swept away, making the official road wider and brighter.
Behind the army, a large number of caravans followed in the distance. The security in Xiliang was very good. However, with the development of business, more and more people from the Central Plains came to Jiuyuan County. Among these people who came in bravely, there were indispensable
There are some scum.
They only wanted to get something for nothing, so they focused their attention on these caravans, even though the Xiliang army would send cavalry to encircle and suppress these bandits every once in a while.
However, these bandits killed one group after another. Should these caravans ask Xiliang soldiers to escort them to where they want to go? Or should they cooperate with other caravans and let everyone act together.
There is strength in numbers, and those robbers will give up when they see that there are too many of them!
But this time they had free bodyguards, and they could see clearly that there were a large number of cavalry escorting King Li Xiangzhong of Xiliang, and those cavalry had been patrolling the surrounding area!
Seeing that those bandits were directly eliminated, the cavalry and soldiers escorting Prime Minister Li were veterans from the battlefield, not recruits who were trained locally and sent out to see blood.
Those robbers and bandits were like leeks in front of them, letting them harvest them!
So these caravans followed the army one after another, but the distance between the two sides was very far, and these merchants also knew that the soldiers in front were escorting the supreme ruler of Xiliang.
I heard that that person was seriously injured on the grassland. Now is the time when the Xiliang army is most sensitive. If they go there, they will most likely end up being treated as spies and killed!
So it's better not to get too close and follow from a distance. Anyway, the Xiliang army is in front, and all the bandits and robbers in the surrounding area have been killed!
"These forces and people are really shameless!"
Li Xiang saw the letter that was sent, which contained the time when these bandits appeared, as well as various information that Xiliang currently has.
These robbers and bandits did not appear out of thin air, but were thrown into Jiuyuan County by people from other major forces in order to disrupt the development of Jiuyuan County.
The appearance of these robbers and bandits does affect some businesses, but they cannot affect food.
