Hearing that the lord Li Li seemed to know a lot about Yuan Shu, Li Ru, who was in charge of the detailed information, said respectfully: "What the lord said is very true. According to the detailed report, Yuan Shu has recruited soldiers in the past two years, and now has more than 100,000 soldiers, and has long had the heart of plotting Xuzhou. The soldiers and horses in Xuzhou have sufficient money and food, and they hold the gateway of the Central Plains, which has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times. Yuan Shuqi was extremely ambitious, occupying Nanyang, Runan and other places, wanting to capture both Xuzhou and Jingxiang, and also wanted to destroy the alliance between Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Cao Cao of Yanzhou. It's a pity that Xuzhou Thorn Shi Taoqian and Jingzhou Liu Biao are not good characters, Yuan Shu is afraid that it will be difficult to get his wish, and he will even suffer a heavy setback! ”

Li Li smiled when he heard this: "Put this matter aside for the time being, and discuss it later." Yuan Zhong, apart from these princes you mentioned earlier, how did the other princes react? ”

Li Xuan said happily: "In February this year, Gongsun Du of Liaodong sent someone to send 500 Liaodong war horses, 500 gold, and 300 pieces of silk to congratulate the lord on his promotion to General Wei, and the position of the third duke.

In March, Cao Cao, the Taishou of Dongjun, sent people to send 5,000 taels of gold, 3,000 pieces of silk and 100 beauties to pay tribute to the imperial court. He did not explicitly congratulate the lord fairly, nor did he clearly ask for an official position, but Liu Daiyue, the assassin of Yanzhou in the imperial court, died at the hands of the Yellow Turban Army before the month, and now Yanzhou is chaotic and the Yellow Turban is rampant, and he asks the court to allow him to lead the troops to exterminate the remnants of the Yellow Turban in Yanzhou. Obviously, Cao Cao's intention to pay tribute was to let the imperial court entitle him as the pastor of Yanzhou and take charge of the military and government of Yanzhou. Soon after Cao Cao paid tribute in Dongjun, Chen Liu, Zhang Miao, and Lu Bu, Chen Gong, and others who lived in Chen Liu, also sent people to send gold, silver, soft and 2,000 stone grain and grass, and clearly congratulated the lord.

In addition to the above-mentioned princes, the county guards of the other counties in the Central Plains also paid tribute to the imperial court. However, the grain, grass, gold, silver, and cloth sent by these county guards were not much, ranging from three to five hundred to about one thousand; But the accumulation of small amounts is not much worse than the number of tributes paid by Liu Biao, Yuan Shao and others. In addition, the prefectures and counties in the Jiangnan area did not send people to pay tribute. Apparently. They thought that the mountain was too far away for us to control them, so they did not come to pay tribute. ”

After listening to Li Xuan's return, Li Li couldn't help frowning slightly, and asked in a deep voice: "Didn't Hanoi Zhang Yang, Hanzhong Zhang Lu, Yizhou Liu Yan and others pay tribute?" They are not small, they are neighbors to my Xiliang, and they dare not pay tribute to this general! ”

"Ugh! Please calm the wrath of the Lord. They also paid tribute, but the amount was wrong, and their subordinates were hesitating to tell the lord about it. Li Xuan hurriedly said in a respectful voice.

"Oh?" Li Li groaned and asked, "Yuan Zhong doesn't have to be restrained. Tell me, why did they pay the wrong amount of tribute? ”

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief slightly, and reported: "My lord, this is the case. In the previous period when Dong Xiangguo was in charge, Hanoi Zhang Yang donated 10,000 stone of grain and grass to the imperial court every six months. five thousand gold, three thousand pieces of cloth; Over the course of a year, he had to pay a total of 20,000 stone of grain and grass to the imperial court. ten thousand gold and not less than five thousand pieces of cloth. However. In the first half of the year, Zhang Yang did not pay the grain and salary to the imperial court, and in the second half of the year, he prevaricated and delayed, and it was not until the beginning of this year that he sent someone to send last year's tribute money and grain, and it was only half a year's income. And that's not all. Zhang Yang also sent people to ask the imperial court for the posts of governor and general of Zhenbei.

In addition to Hanoi Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong used to present 50,000 stone grain and grass, 30,000 gold and 10,000 silk to the imperial court every year. However, he was the same as Zhang Yang last year. It was not until the end of the year that half of the grain, grass, gold, silver and cloth were sent, and he also complained to the imperial court and asked for the post of general of Zhennan.

Liu Yan of Yizhou has even more inches, wantonly deducting the food and salary that should be paid, and drastically reducing it sharply, as if he treats our army as nothing! The year before last, when Dong Xiangguo moved the capital to Chang'an, Liu Yan presented 100,000 stones, grain and grass, 30,000 gold and 30,000 high-quality silk to the imperial court. At the end of the same year, he was exposed by Liu Biao in Jingzhou for his hidden evil intentions, and he paid a lot of tribute to the imperial court, which was equivalent to the amount of money and grain offered at the beginning of the year, which showed that he had sufficient money and food, and was rich. However, he did not pay the salary last year, and it was not until the end of the year that he sent someone to send 30,000 stone grain and grass, 10,000 gold, 10,000 horses of silk and 30 Xichuan beauties.

In addition, Liu Yan also sent an envoy to Bixia to send his three sons and their families back to Yizhou, so that they could reunite their father and son, so that he, the emperor's uncle, could enjoy his family in peace. At that time, Bixia almost agreed, but the lord had already instructed him on this matter that he would never let Liu Yan's three sons return to Yizhou; So his subordinates, Li Dao, and Wen You dissuaded him in time, so that Liu Yan could not get his wish.

During the reign of Dong Xiangguo, Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu and Yizhou Liu Yan were all dependent on the imperial court and paid every six months, and their salaries were far higher than those of other princes. However, since last year, when they saw the turmoil in Xiliang, the lord was in charge of the army at the beginning, so he didn't take our Xiliang army in his eyes, and wantonly withheld food and salary, which is really hateful! ”

After saying this in one breath, Li Xuan's face was full of anger, and he looked indignant and uneasy.

Obviously, the reason why Zhang Lu, Zhang Yang, Liu Yan and others dared to drastically reduce the money and grain for tribute was to treat Li Li and Dong Zhuo differently. They were afraid of Dong Zhuo, but they despised Li Li, thinking that Li Li was young and ambitious, and he was in charge of the Xiliang Army for the first time, with a shallow foundation, frivolity and immaturity, and his fame and strength were far inferior to Dong Zhuo before. Therefore, they dared to cut the money and grain without authorization, and the money, grain and cloth they offered were less than half of the previous years, and they also poured bitter water, complained a lot, and demanded a lot of things from the court. This move was clearly a provocation to Li Li, and it also meant to be tempting, and they tested Li Li's control over the Xiliang Army in the name of paying tribute and grain, and found out the bottom line of Li Li's tolerance.

After listening to Li Xuan's words, Li Li was expressionless and silent, then stood up and paced back and forth in the lobby.

After a while, Li Li stood in the center of the hall and muttered: "Hanoi is public, in the past, Ding Yuan was a pawn, but now he is just a small official in a county, this guy dares to despise me!"

Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, pretending to be a ghost, relying on the beauty of his mother Bo Ji, and devoting himself to Liu Yan in order to earn the land of Hanzhong. Such a puppet, a snob, actually dares to provoke me Li Li, and his heart can be punished!

Liu Yan of Yizhou, who regards himself as a relative of the Han family and the current emperor's uncle, is actually a white-faced scholar, a young man, and a dead rat! In the past, He Jin secretly summoned Dong Xiangguo to enter the king of Jingqin, and Cao Cao once said: The one who disturbs the world must be He Jinye. However, in my opinion, the person who really troubles the world is not He Jin, but Liu Yan! As soon as this person opened his mouth with red mouth and white teeth, he was to restore the state pastoral system, with ill intentions, and his name was Uncle Huang of the Han Dynasty, but he was actually a thief of the Han family! After the establishment of the state pastor, the world's heroes were ready to move, and their ambitions soared, and they were separated from the imperial court, and the trend of the princes being separated was out of control. However, Liu Yan is already an old man now, even though he has the heart to be the emperor, he does not have the courage and courage to achieve the great cause of the emperor. This person is really a dry bone in the grave, and it is not enough! ”

After venting some evil fire, Li Li couldn't help but laugh dumbly, and said slowly: "After listening to Yuan Zhong's words just now, it really made people angry, and I couldn't help but vent a few words. However, if you calm down and think about it carefully, what Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu and Liu Yan did was undoubtedly a wise move after careful consideration. Bingzhou, Hanzhong and Yizhou and other places are adjacent to my Xiliang, before Xiliang has not been unified, the princes are divided, and the situation is extremely chaotic. Therefore, they can pay food and salary without scruples, so as to show goodwill to Dong Xiangguo and nominally attach themselves to the imperial court.

However, now the situation in Xiliang has changed greatly, and our Xiliang army dominates the two states of Xiliang, and the strength of the soldiers is unique in the world. At this time, all the princes of the world knew that our army was powerful, but only the food and grass were insufficient, and they were unable to use troops on a large scale abroad. Among the princes of all parties, the princes of Xuzhou, Jingzhou and other prefectures and counties that are far away from us are willing to offer money and grain to Li Lijin and take the opportunity to show favor to me; As for the princes of Jizhou, Yanzhou, Nanyang, and Youzhou, which are relatively close to us, they would rather take out gold, silver, money, and silk cloth in a painful way than give us grain and grass directly. Because sending us grain and grass, for them, it is equivalent to subsidizing the development and growth of our Xiliang army, which is tantamount to raising tigers for trouble, but endangers themselves. In addition, presumably after they get the official positions they want, they will definitely block the border arteries and strictly order the merchants who sell grain in various parts of the Central Plains not to sell grain to us.

Nowadays, the Kwantung princes are very jealous of our Western Liang army, and they dare not fight with me, let alone fight with our army head-on. Therefore, gold, silver, silk, and beautiful women, they did not hesitate to give me Li Li, but they did not give me grain or grass, nor did they sell me grain. I think that not only will they not sell us grain for the army, but I am afraid that the prefectures and counties adjacent to me, such as Bingzhou, Hanzhong and Yizhou, will not sell us grain and grass; As a result, we can't buy food even if we have money, so we can only be self-sufficient and seek self-development.

The actions of Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu, Liu Yan and others have unmistakably demonstrated their tactics against our army and our Li Li. That is, they don't want to see my Li Li grow up day by day, they don't want to see my Xiliang Army have the ability to raise troops to fight, and they don't want to see my Xiliang Erzhou regain its vitality and gradually become stronger. In fact, they are weak-minded, afraid of our Xiliang army, for fear that I will suddenly wave my troops to attack their territory, and they are powerless to resist the advance of our Xiliang army.

Although they are provoking me Li Li, they are actually scratching their heads and bluffing, a group of rats! hahaha??????"

After Li Xuan and Li Ru listened to Li Li's words, they thought they were happy and nodded in agreement.

In addition to daxiao, Li Xuan asked: "I don't know how the lord plans to respond to the tribute of the princes of all parties?" The matter has been delayed for months and cannot be delayed any longer. Otherwise, the princes of all sides will be extremely dissatisfied with us, and they will be suspicious of us, and the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

After Li Ru heard this, he continued: "What Yuan Zhong said is very true. Many princes have been urging them repeatedly because they have not received the imperial edict for a long time, and they are very anxious. Therefore, the matter of the edict is already imminent, and it will change later. ”

Li Li bowed his head slightly, and said with a smile: "Yes, it is not rude to come, it has been the same since ancient times!" Since we have received gold, silver, money, food and cloth from other people, we must naturally show something, otherwise they should resent me Li Li, think that I am small-minded, and try to dominate the court! ”

—————— (To be continued)(To be continued......

PS: Thank you for the reward from Yan Li's book friends, I am very grateful!