How could the imperial court safely allow Li Ze to gain so much power?

Fuwang Li Xin put this question directly on the table.

It is of course better for him to ask in Luoyang than to ask again in Chang'an.

Does King Fu want to know the answer? Does Chang'an want to know the answer?

Loyalty can never be defended by itself, and only time can prove loyalty.

Li Xin originally expected to see this young man put on an impassioned speech in front of him, and he would not believe even a word, but he was still mentally prepared for this.

Where did Li Ze come from when he went to Chang'an? Of course, it is Hezhen, Chengde, Henghai, Zhenwu, after the merger of the three major festival towns, in the north, there will be a super festival town, although the area is not as vast as Zhang Zhongwu's Lulong, but its wealth, its people, far beyond Lulong.

It is true that the imperial court did not agree to join the town, and these three major festivals and towns were actually controlled by Li Ze, but whether they had a reputation or not, whether they could be justified or not, would have a huge impact on Li Ze in the future, and this was also the only thing that the imperial court could handle now.

Li Xin didn't expect Li Ze to answer him like this.

It's bland and calm.

couldn't defend himself, so he threw the problem to King Fu and the court.

There is no doubt about employing people, and there is no need for suspicious people, and now I have put my mother's wife, although it has not yet been married, but it is also a name. I've sent them over, what else do you want from me?

Li Xin was stunned for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing.

He smiled and nodded repeatedly: "Okay, good, I can't defend myself." This sentence is more impassioned than countless impassioned to make people believe that you Li Shuai is indeed loyal to the imperial court. Now everyone in the world knows that Gao Biao is loyal and righteous, but when Gao Biao left the town of Hedong, how many people doubted that he would have malicious intentions? At that time, Zhang Zhongwu had already begun to show his fangs, and the imperial court had to send Gao Biao under the situation that there was nothing to be done, but it turned out that today's Gao Biao is indeed the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty. Li Shuai, I look forward to you being the next Gao Pi. ”

Li Ze smiled faintly: "No, I won't be the next Gao Yu." ”

Li Xin's smile suddenly condensed on his face.

"Gao Biao is indeed loyal and righteous, but he can only barely maintain the situation, and I, after Hezhen, will reorganize my forces, go north to rebel, and return the court to a northern land of Haiqing Heyan." Li Ze said word by word.

"Good, good, blue is better than blue." Li Xin smiled.

"The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves." Li Ze continued.

"If the town is combined, how will Li Shuai deal with Zhang Zhongwu? How long will it take to extinguish this fang? Li Xin restrained his smile and asked.

Li Ze also said with a straight face: "Your Highness, if I answer you at this time for an exact time, there is no doubt that I am talking nonsense." Zhang Zhongwu served as the envoy of the Lulong Festival for more than ten years, and he has been in business for more than ten years, and now he not only owns the land of Kyushu, oh, no, there are only eight states left, but also conquered the Khitan outside the mouth, I even suspect that now he is in collusion with the Xiongnu and the Hui, and his strength is still not comparable to me. At the moment, I have joined forces with Gao Yu and Gao Shuai, and I can only hold on to it. ”

Li Xin's face suddenly looked disappointed.

"Is Zhang Zhongwu so strong?"

"Zhang Zhongwu's jurisdiction, most of the land is bitter cold, Hu and Han are mixed, the people are fierce, Lu Long now has more than 50,000 soldiers, if all the people are mobilized, they can dispatch more than 200,000 troops at one time, and take our Chengde as an example, even if we start to expand the army vigorously now, the soldiers will not exceed 20,000, although there are many people, but without long-term training, they can't fight against Lu Long. The Lulong people regard fighting as a daily routine, and even make a living from fighting, and become virtuous people, preferring farming, business, and production. Li Ze analyzed: "Zhang Zhongwu has a large number of cavalry, and his mobile combat ability is so strong that whether it is Gao Shuai or our Chengde, it is an extremely headache. The defeat of Gao Shuai's Daizhou was infiltrated, cut off, isolated, and then conquered by Zhang Zhongwu's large number of cavalry. Fortunately, Zhang Zhongwu first aimed at Gao Shuai instead of our Chengde, otherwise Chengde would have ceased to exist a long time ago. ”

Li Xin said movingly: "Zhang Zhongwu suffered this loss this time, and he will inevitably adjust his strategy. ”

"Of course, persimmons pick up soft pinch! Compared to Gao Shuai, I am naturally easier to deal with. But it is not so easy to reorient the strategy on such a large scale. If it were replaced by other Jiedu envoys sitting in Hedong, Zhang Zhongwu might do it unscrupulously, but Gao Biao would not let him do so, and Zhang Zhongwu needed to consider the price of doing so. Li Ze said: "So Your Highness, in fact, we don't have much time. I need to gather the forces of the Three Towns in a very short period of time and organize an army that can compete with Zhang Zhongwu, or at least hold on to him, without losing too quickly, in order to see hope for the future. ”

"How long will it take you to do this?"

"Your Highness, it will take at least a year to assemble an army that can hold on to it, this year, I will have a very hard time, after a year, I will be able to launch a counterattack in a timely manner, two to three years later, I believe that I can launch a counteroffensive, as for when to completely defeat Zhang Zhongwu, I really can't give His Highness a letter of approval. There is no normalcy in war, and no one can say for sure the final outcome of war. ”

Li Xin nodded slowly: "Li Shuai said it very sincerely, but I feel more confident in my heart." Although Li Shuai didn't say it directly, I still heard the belief in victory from your words. ”

"I naturally have the belief that I will win, and it is not because of self-confidence, arrogance or narcissism, but because it is based on reality." Li Ze smiled: "In fact, the most important thing is the first year, as long as I block the first year, then the form will be better, and the longer the time, the more beneficial it will be for us." ”

"Why do you say that?" Li Xin asked with interest.

"Your Highness should also know that war is only a means to the end of the end, but the victory or defeat of war is far from being determined by battle. Zhang Zhongwu has governed Lulong for many years and has indeed built a strong army, but Lulong Kyushu is still poor, and a lot of wealth is concentrated in the hands of wealthy families represented by Zhang Zhongwu, powerful and powerful, and big landlords. This point, after I laid down Yingzhou, this image became clearer. I recruited a Khitan tribe to fight for Zhang Zhongwu, but they couldn't even solve the problem of food and clothing. ”

"People's livelihood!" Li Xin said.

"Yes, at this point, I am much more confident than Zhang Zhongwu, not only can I raise a strong army, but I can also let the people under my rule, at least live a life of food and clothing, robbery, killing and conquest, will only play a role in destruction, or will be strong for a while, but not for long. In other words, if Zhang Zhongwu keeps winning battles, his morale will become higher and higher, and he will use the conquered territories to make up for his lack of economy, and the robbery to make his army stronger. But as long as he suffers a big defeat, his foundation will be moved. His strength is built on gravel, but I, on the other hand, will lay the foundation first, and even if there is an earthquake, it will stagger, but it will not collapse. ”

"Resist his three-plate axe first, then enter the standoff phase with him, and finally, I will stone him to death with money."

"Stoneing him with money?" When Li Xin heard this, he wanted to laugh, but he really couldn't laugh.

"Yes, it's to stone him to death with money." Li Ze said with a smile: "Zhang Zhongwu wants to face the north and face the south, and his civilian and military generals want to become the heroes of the founding of the country, but what about those soldiers at the lowest level, those ordinary people?" Their dream is probably to have a full meal! Once they found out that Zhang Zhongwu couldn't give them this, how long would Zhang Zhongwu be able to hold out? ”

"Li Shuai's plan is good, but there is one thing that has to be considered!" After Li Xin finished speaking, he paused, and his face showed embarrassment.

"Your Highness is worried about other festivals, right?" Li Ze asked.

Li Xin was a little embarrassed, but nodded anyway.

"You also saw it this time, many people are ready to move!" Li Xin sighed: "Whether it is the Dongdu Shence Army or the Forbidden Army of Chang'an, it is more than enough to defend, not enterprising, or even more unbearable, once something happens, it is very easy for the situation to collapse!" Therefore, we hope to put down the Lulong rebellion as soon as possible, and then with Li Shuai and Gao Shuai in the deterrent, the imperial court can calmly clean up the rivers and mountains! ”

"If you want to hurry, you can't get there!" Regarding this problem, Li Ze was also helpless: "Your Highness, I can understand your worries, and I am also worried, but when it comes to dealing with Lu Long and Zhang Zhongwu, I must not be in a hurry." Once a big thing is ruined because of impatience, there is no need for other festivals and towns to have an accident, Zhang Zhongwu will sweep the north and bring Jia to the south. As long as the imperial court can hold Luoyang firmly and Chang'an is not lost, then everything will not be a big deal, and after three or five years, everything will get better. ”

"Three or five years?" Li Xin looked up to the sky and sighed.

"I look at the divine army led by His Highness or advance and retreat to a certain extent, quite an elite atmosphere, around Luoyang, there are many dangers, why is His Highness so worried?" Li Ze asked.

Li Xin smiled bitterly: "My long history didn't come today, do you know what he's doing?" He was investigating Luoyang's spies, but he didn't find a breakthrough before, and this time he finally got an important person, but if he didn't check it, he was shocked. ”

"Damn it, you can't stay." Li Ze said fiercely.

"But there are some people who can't be killed." Li Xin shook his head helplessly. "The hearts of men have been scattered. At this time, we urgently need an exciting victory that can greatly increase the prestige of the imperial court to stabilize the situation. Otherwise, how can you start from the old rivers and mountains from scratch? ”

Li Ze also shook his head, "Your Highness, I can only tremble and tide over the crisis together, so I need to go back as soon as possible and get everything on the right track as soon as possible, every day is precious to us." ”