Chapter 59 I had no choice before, now I just want the best
Although Li Yuan seemed to have given Yuwen Shiji many benefits, he actually only gave him the position of Shangnian Fengyu, and the rest was the same as if he hadn't given him anything.
"I know."
Yuwen Shiji bowed and said.
Li Yuanji nodded and said, "My second brother and I have done almost everything we should do."
As he spoke, Li Yuanji took out a list and handed it to Yuwen Shiji.
Yuwen Shiji took the list hesitantly.
Li Yuanji continued, "All those who need to be transferred are inside. My people will bring them to see you later. You just need to show your face and let them see you. After I get the food, you can show your face again and give them the transfer documents."
Li Shimin, Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng had almost discussed everything that needed to be discussed.
Although Li Jiancheng had some complaints about the grain that Li Yuanji and Li Shimin gave him as a share, he finally gritted his teeth and agreed.
As long as he could get food to help the people in other places and spread his wisdom, he would accept a little loss.
Li Yuan naturally agreed wholeheartedly.
In particular, Li Shimin told Li Yuan in a letter that as long as they recruited more illegitimate sons of aristocratic families to serve as officials and abandoned the legitimate sons of aristocratic families, they would be able to cause internal strife among the aristocratic families where the illegitimate sons were stronger than the legitimate sons, and thus alleviate the situation in which the Tang Dynasty was threatened by the aristocratic families.
Li Yuan was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
Although Li Yuan was very generous, he did not have a broad mind.
He thinks it is his duty to be nice to his own people.
He thinks it is right to be cruel to those who don't give him face and to his enemies.
The aristocratic family severely offended him on the issue of marriage, and he always remembered this grudge.
Who isn’t a member of a wealthy and powerful family? Who isn’t a member of a powerful and influential family?
My Li family's legitimate son will marry the legitimate daughters of your five surnames, which is giving you face.
Since you have no shame, don't blame me for slapping you in the face.
Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Ji, the four most powerful people in the Tang Dynasty, were all behind this matter.
This matter will naturally be completed quickly.
"I understand."
Yuwen Shiji put away the list and nodded.
Li Yuanji gave Yuwen Shiji a few more instructions before letting him leave.
As soon as Yuwen Shiji left, Li Yuanji immediately sent someone to summon Yuwen Bao.
Yuwen Bao still had the image of a careless idiot. When Li Yuanji handed him the list, he happily agreed and took two people to meet Yuwen Shiji that night.
The next day, Li Yuanji had two more official positions to sell and earned 10,000 shi of grain.
Yuwen Bao is not a good person, and he treats things according to the person he is dealing with.
Anyone who wanted to be transferred horizontally in the Prince of Qi's Palace was divided into different levels by him.
Whoever has food shipped to Luoyang City will have priority.
Whoever gives him benefits comes second.
If we don't give benefits and there is no grain in Luoyang City, we will have to wait until the grain is delivered or the benefits are in place before we get it done.
The wealthy families had many sons and daughters, and Li Yuanji was aggressively selling official positions, so they would naturally seek official positions for many of their sons and daughters, so it was impossible for them to transport a batch of grain to Luoyang City.
After they had found an official position for one son, they would find one for the second son, so they had been transporting grain to Luoyang City.
Therefore, after Yuwen Bao established this rule, people from wealthy families could only ask their clans for food, and at the same time, they could use the food prepared for other children to seek official positions to give to the children who were transferred.
Therefore, after the matter of transferring official positions began, Li Yuanji did not need to wait, and food was immediately deposited into his account.
The official roads throughout Luoyang were also filled with convoys transporting grain.
Everyone said that in the year of the great disaster, no one had any surplus food; everyone said that the granaries across the Tang Dynasty were empty, without a single grain of food, so the Tang Dynasty had no food.
But after seeing the convoy transporting grain to Luoyang City, no one could say this anymore.
The granary in Luoyang City, which had been emptied by a thief named Li Shimin, was soon filled up with the unremitting help of the wealthy families.
There is too much food to store.
Li Yuanji waved his hand and ordered his guards and the newly formed soldiers of the Zuoyi Army to eat three dry meals a day.
Qu Tutong, along with his followers, denounced Li Yuanji's extravagance while eating and drinking from bowls.
The people sent by Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng to transport grain were heartbroken when they saw that Li Yuanji gave his men three dry meals a day.
Even in a year of bumper harvest, wealthy families would not dare to feed their servants and maids like this.
Those who can eat one dry meal and two liquid meals a day are all very kind and wealthy people.
Li Yuanji is even more extravagant than the wealthy families, that is luxury.
"Your Highness, the number of people in Zuo Yitong Military Office has exceeded four thousand."
The front hall of Luoyang Palace.
Li Yuanji was reading the private letter sent by Li Shimin, and there was a sense of "I'm so jealous" between the lines.
Xie Shufang reported to Li Yuanji in a panic.
Li Yuanji grinned, put down the private letter from Li Shimin, looked at Xie Shufang, and asked in doubt: "The full complement of the Zuo Yitong Military Headquarters is only 3,000 people, how come there are suddenly so many more?"
Xie Shufang hurriedly said: "It should be because the soldiers were fed too good a meal..."
The soldiers of Qi Wang Zuo Yitong’s military headquarters are still in the planning stage. Apart from eating, they train every day. After training, they can also go home.
Because most of them were refugees, their families had just settled down in Luoyang, and some of them were unfamiliar with the place, so they had to go back from time to time to take care of them.
As soon as they returned, they praised Li Yuanji to death and their life in the camp to death.
Then, the rumor that the soldiers in Qi Wang Zuo Yitong’s army had to eat three dry meals a day spread across Luoyang like a hurricane.
Some of those who did not catch up with the recruitment of soldiers by the Prince of Qi's Palace could only follow their brothers and sneak into the military camp.
The clerks of Zuo Yitong’s military office were selected from among the refugees. It was not easy to drive away the fellow villagers, and it was not easy to drive away those who called them uncles, aunts, or great-grandfathers.
Then, the number of soldiers in Qi Wang Zuo Yitong’s military headquarters soon exceeded the limit.
"I didn't expect that feeding the soldiers too well would lead to something like this."
Li Yuanji was also at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
The reason why he let the soldiers eat better was because most of them were refugees. They had been hungry for too long and many of them looked pale and thin.
So he had to make his soldiers stronger as soon as possible.
He had enough food, so naturally he had to make sure his soldiers had enough to eat.
Seeing that Li Yuanji did not seem angry about this, Xie Shufang hurriedly said, "You let the soldiers eat three meals a day. Not to mention people, even dogs would want to be by your side and wag their tails at you."
Li Yuanji glared at Xie Shufang and said, "What's the difference between a dog and a dog? How can a human be compared to a dog?"
Xie Shufang quickly admitted his mistake.
Li Yuanji pondered for a moment and said, "Since the quota has been exceeded, then we will recruit soldiers again and open the Zuo Er Tongjun Mansion, but we can only recruit 1,500 people."
Li Yuanji could not use all the people and refugees in Luoyang. He had to leave some troops for the Xue brothers and the powerful generals he would recruit later.
It is standard for brave generals to bring their own troops and personal soldiers.
Even though Li Yi knew that the Xue brothers would never come back after joining his army, he still had to consider their old friendship and asked them to bring some people over.
Others are no exception.
Just like Yuchi Gong, who was under Li Shimin, when he surrendered to Li Shimin, he brought four thousand strong soldiers with him.
Li Shimin got Yuchi Gong and four thousand brave warriors.
Li Shimin could ignore the rules of the court and expand his own military headquarters.
Li Yuanji did not have that kind of prestige, and if he expanded the General Military Headquarters, he would easily be criticized.
If you have decided to develop in a vulgar way, it is better to keep a low profile.
“Yes!”
Xie Shufang agreed.
Then we went to recruit soldiers for the second time.
Then, Luoyang went crazy.
Qu Tutong also went crazy.
In the middle of the night, when Li Yuanji was sleeping soundly, Qu Tutong broke into Li Yuanji's residence, clamoring to see him.
After being awakened, Li Yuanji ordered the guards at the door to let Qu Tutong in.
When Qu Tutong saw Li Yuanji, he hurriedly said, "Your Highness, Luoyang City is under siege!"
Li Yuanji was a little confused and blinked, "Huh?"
Qu Tutong said in a deep voice: "The four gates of Luoyang City are now surrounded by people. A rough estimate is that there are no less than ten thousand people."
Li Yuanji suddenly came to his senses. Was someone gathering to rebel? Or was he gathering to rob food?
Li Yuanji stared and asked, "Did they cause trouble? Did you find out why they gathered in Luoyang City?"
Qu Tutong said solemnly: "They didn't cause any trouble. They said they came to join the army."
It was the first time that Qu Tutong saw a scene of tens of thousands of people joining the army.
If Qu Tutong had not known that Li Yuanji provided three meals a day to the soldiers of the Qi Wang Zuo Yi Tongjun Mansion and that the Qi Wang Mansion had posted a new recruitment notice, he would have thought that someone was gathering to rebel.
When Li Yuanji heard that he was coming to join the army, he felt relieved.
Li Yuanji smiled and said, "They are indeed here to join the army. You don't have to be so nervous."
Qu Tutong stared at Li Yuanji and sighed, "My Lord, your notice has only been posted for one day and tens of thousands of people have come to surrender. If you continue to publicize it for a few more days, I don't know how many more people will come to surrender.
When tens of thousands of people gather in Luoyang City, and you only recruit 1,500 people, how can the others be willing to accept that?
At that time, they will either gather a crowd and force you to compete with them, or force you to accept them all.
Do you follow or not?
If you don't obey, they will go crazy, right?"
When tens of thousands of people gather together, even if there is nothing wrong, something will happen.
Once a big mess breaks out, the blame for inciting civil unrest will fall firmly on one's head.
Qu Tutong was the garrison commander of Luoyang, and he was naturally nervous about having this hat put on his head.
The smile on Li Yuanji's face disappeared and he frowned slightly.
He just wanted to find an excuse to accommodate the excess troops in his mansion, but he didn't expect to cause such a mess.
If we withdraw the order now, those who came to join the army will not give up.
If the order is not withdrawn, more and more people will gather and trouble will arise sooner or later.
Li Yuanji thought for a while and said, "How about this? You select a hundred or so strong warriors from your own army, and I will send a hundred or so strong warriors to various places in Luoyang overnight. We will set up a fighting arena and let those who are interested in joining the army in Luoyang compete with them. Those who can draw or win will be accepted into the government.
Those who lost the fight were given two Hu cakes and allowed to go home.
I will ask Xie Shufang to set up a fighting arena outside the city and let them start fighting right away."
This is a bad thing, but also a good thing.
In the past, Li Yuanji had no choice but to use whoever he had available.
Now that there is a choice, and there are quite a lot of them, he doesn't mind selecting the best from the best and bringing the bravest soldiers into his mansion.
Those who join the army are not as skilled as others, and they will not complain if they lose.
Give them two Hu bings as food for their journey home, and they will only be grateful for the kindness of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi.
