Li Xun's letter was quickly delivered. He was now waiting for the Imperial Court to give him an order. He finally found an excuse not to go back. It was impossible for the Imperial Court to send a few more people here immediately. There was not enough time. This place was already under attack. How could they have the time to care about other things?
Now, Lu Zhou had 3,000 soldiers. Initially, he said that he would have 4,000 soldiers. However, after several rounds of training, he eliminated the 1,000 soldiers who could not keep up. Now, 3,000 soldiers were not a small number. After a few months of training, they were doing pretty well. It was not a big deal to fight a big battle, but it was not a problem to fight a small battle, especially when they were using good weapons to bully others.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also thought so. Although 3,000 people were not very useful when fighting the surrounding countries, it was not a problem when it came to that small place.
There weren't many people there to begin with. Furthermore, there weren't any large organizations, and there weren't any good weapons. Not to mention three thousand people, even a thousand people would be able to do whatever they wanted there. In addition to Li Xun's guards and the Zhang family's fifty-six people, if they went there together, they would be able to bully the locals to death.
After Li Xun sent the letter, he began to ask Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan to take him to see the training of the 3,000 people. They could not wait to go there.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan naturally did not refuse. The group of people went to the barracks. On the way, they sighed with emotion. Lu Zhou finally had his own soldiers. The position of the Military Registrar could also be taken. He did not have to deal with so many things alone like before. That was too unstable.
When the three of them arrived at the military camp's drill ground, they could hear the battle cries of the soldiers from afar. It sounded pretty good, but they didn't know if it would be as good as the battle cries. Out of the three thousand people, a thousand of them were originally from the mountain. Their formation wasn't very good, but if they were to really fight, the thousand of them could easily take care of the two thousand people.
"Good, that's right. Train, train hard. The food we give you is so good, and you have a lot of money. If you don't train hard, you'll be letting down the food you eat."
Li Xun stopped to watch from the side and also cheered. Zhang Xiaobao didn't say anything, and Wang Juan also didn't say anything.
The three of them watched for a while, and then Li Xun urged his horse over. No one knew what he was thinking, but at this time, he began to mobilize his troops, telling the three thousand people how the Great Tang had been attacked and how the Great Tang's territory had been occupied by others, yet he was not honest.
The three thousand people did not care whether that place was Great Tang or not. As long as someone said it was, it was. When they heard that someone had been beaten up, they immediately refused to do anything. They all begged to be ordered to attack that place. They had to kill those people.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan listened from the side and were really speechless.
"This is why a weak country has no diplomacy. Only when it is strong can it not be bullied. More importantly, it has to maintain the courage of the people. As long as there is courage, even if it looks a little weak and has a small territory, others will not dare to attack it. Just like the mountain people here. Who dares to provoke them for no reason? They can't afford to pay the price."
Zhang Xiaobao had a good impression of the people in this place. When it came to war, the men in the family were ready to go. They just needed to find an excuse.
Wang Juan also thought so. A wolf without blood would not be able to beat a wild horse with blood. If one wanted others to respect them, then they had to have the strength and attitude to make others respect them. It was useless to always beg for peace. Peace was bought with blood.
"Xiao Bao, Cuckoo, what happened?" When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were still lamenting, Old Man Chang and Old Man Pi came from behind. The two of them heard that three people had hurriedly rode to the barracks and felt that something was wrong.
As soon as Old Man Chang arrived, he saw Li Xun saying something to the soldiers. It seemed a little inappropriate to go over now, so he could only ask Zhang Xiaobao and Old Man Pi.
"Grandpa Zhang and Grandpa Bi are both here. In fact, it's not a big deal. It's just that a place in Great Tang has been occupied by some people from who knows where. Since they have occupied it, Great Tang naturally has to leave some place for them to live. But in the end, after we treated them well, our people went over. Guess what happened? They actually dared to attack our people and caused two of our people to be seriously injured. "
Zhang Xiaobao was now adamant that that place belonged to the Great Tang. In any case, no one would say otherwise. When the time came, he would just continue to occupy it. It was just like the current Tang Dynasty. How could the Central Plains be as big as it was now? Wasn't it still under siege?
"Are there really people who are seriously injured?" Old Man Pi asked with concern. He knew where the so-called place of Great Tang was. It seemed that they had really found it. This was really great.
Wang Juan said at the side, "Grandpa Bi, they are really seriously injured. Both of their arms are injured, and one of them is injured on the leg. This is not the most important part. The most important part is that their hearts are hurt the most.
The two of them just went over there and took our good things to try to exchange with their bad things. Grandpa Bi, don't you think our things are good? But the people on their side actually attacked the two of us who came with good intentions.
After the two of them were beaten up, they could not understand why kind people were always hurt. Their dreams at night were always nightmares, and they were often jolted awake in their dreams. Grandpa Bi, the people on their side are really too evil. They clearly treat our kindness as weakness.
In a situation where there was no other way, our people were forced to fight back. Fortunately, our people had the determination to fight to the death after being bullied, so we beat them back. But after all, we haven't been there for many years. The local people don't recognize us, so we had to come back with our tails between our legs. Xiao Bao, is this what you mean? "
"Yes, it's like this. After Marquis Li Xun knew about this, he couldn't sit still. After all, Young Master Li is a member of the royal family. He has to protect the people under his rule. How can he let a strong enemy bully him? That's why he came to this place and prepared to send some troops over there to let the people over there know whose territory it is, what they should do in the future, and what …"
"Xiao Bao, Cuckoo, you two don't need to say anymore. I know, I know. So that's how it is. It's really unreasonable." Old Man Pi interrupted Zhang Xiaobao's impassioned speech and echoed.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were satisfied. Old Man Chang really didn't know what to say. After listening to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's words, he understood that the two sent out the troops to look for trouble. At first, they said that they were going to do some business, but now they were going to fight.
Li Xun was not someone who was easy to deal with. He found an excuse and started to mobilize the soldiers here. The soldiers here had just reported to the higher-ups, but the higher-ups probably did not know. After all, the soldiers here had to be trained to look like soldiers before they could be called soldiers. It had just been six days since the news was sent out.
As such, the current Li Xun would be able to bring the soldiers to war, and the imperial court would not be able to pursue the matter. After all, Li Xun had taken the soldiers away before they were fully formed.
Old Man Chang pulled Old Man Pi to the side and said to Old Man Pi, "What should we do? See, the Zhang family has a lot of thoughts. They didn't go there to make a deal. They clearly went there to take over the things. If the imperial court knows about this, what will they say? "
"What will they say if the imperial court knows? That's the Tang Empire's territory. Our people were hurt in the Tang Empire's territory, so we naturally have to send troops. Isn't Li Xun already prepared for this?"
Old Man Pi said to Old Man Chang. His meaning was very clear. He wanted the Tang Empire's people to go there, take over the place, and make it their own. As for what other people said, they didn't care. At worst, they could just kill the local people or move them to other places. After many years, people would know that it was a piece of land of the Tang Empire.
When Old Man Chang heard Old Man Pi's words, he understood Old Man Pi's plan. He sighed and said, "I'm not worried about this. Even if we take over the place, when the time comes, the Zhang family will expand to other places. Do we have to take over every place they expand?
If that's the case, we won't have enough people on our side. We can't just take over the place and not send people to guard it, right? Do we have to send the people here over? "
"No, we can't send the people of this place over. All the people who go there have to be replaced within a few years. If we send the people over, who knows if the people there will still recognize the Great Tang? If they really do suddenly establish a country, this place will be beyond our reach."
When Old Man Pi heard that they had to send the people to other places, he immediately rejected it. They definitely couldn't send people there, especially in an ignorant place. The local people didn't know what was going on. If the people here went there, it was likely that they would first fight with the local people. After fighting for a while, they would realize that there wasn't much benefit to it. Moreover, if there was a war here, the people there would likely have other thoughts.
"If that's the case, then we'll think of a way in the future. The main thing is that the ship's speed is too slow. It takes a long time to go and return. If something really happens over there, we won't be able to get there in time. No, we have to let Xiao Bao and Cuckoo talk to their families. Otherwise, even if we know the place, it will be useless."
When Old Man Chang saw that Old Man Pi was starting to worry, he immediately mentioned telling the Zhang family.
The two of them talked about a few more things before returning to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Old Man Chang said to Zhang Xiaobao, "Xiao Bao, after your family found that island, will they continue to look for other places?"
"Other places? Not for the time being. Grandpa Zhang, that place is not small. Don't think that we can go there now. If we want to occupy that place, it is impossible without tens of thousands of soldiers. My family now wants to manage that place well. We can't care about other places. We have to eat one bite at a time. "
Zhang Xiaobao understood. The two of them were afraid that when the time came, they would keep looking for new places. If that happened, the Tang Dynasty wouldn't have enough soldiers. Even if they had, they wouldn't be able to send them. What was the point of sending them there?
Was it to kill a few people and come back? The place was big, the population was small, and the battle line was too long. It was easy to be attacked. That was why he told them part of the plan.
When Old Man Chang heard Zhang Xiaobao's words, he was temporarily relieved. However, he was very curious about that place. What did it look like? What did the people look like? What were the specialties? These were all things that he had to find out first. The most important thing was how big that place was.
He signaled Old Man Pi with his eyes. The Old Man Pi came out and asked, "Xiao Bao, is there anything good in that place? Is it big? "
"Good things? Yes, the people who went this time brought back some things. I'll show them to Grandpa Zhang and Grandpa Bi later. There are so many things, and many of them are things that we need. I don't know how big that place is, but there are many islands between our place and that place.
If we can reclaim that place, the islands in the middle will be ours as well. We can learn from Lu Zhou and build a lighthouse there. Also, we can find a bigger island and build better houses there. We can provide help to the fishermen in the distant sea. "
Zhang Xiaobao thought for a moment and told them the things that he planned to mention later. This time, he did not go into details, especially about what would happen in the future. He did not tell Old Man Chang and Old Man Pi.
"Yes, Grandpa Bi, that place is great. There seems to be a lot of gold there. Gold and other local specialties. If we don't want them, we'll give them to others, especially the minerals. After they're mined, they won't appear again. Our family is thinking of using force to force the people who live in our place to work for us.
When the minerals are mined, we'll send them here. We can bury them and keep them for our descendants to use in the future. We can also take them out now. That way, we don't need to touch the minerals here. We can keep them for our descendants. Also, they have a lot of food, just like Lei Province and Ya Province.
We can let the local people grow the crops and bring them here to eat, feed the livestock, and make wine. We don't need the people to do this. Think about it, they live in our place. How can they not work for us? They're like farmers. Are farmers who don't work still farmers? "
Wang Juan also chimed in at this time. The two old men were speechless when they heard her mention our place. What kind of people are they? It's fine if the adults are like this, but the two children are also learning from the adults. The locals are sad.
The two looked at each other again. This time, they didn't say anything. In their hearts, they understood that the Zhang family would never give up that place. Since that was the case, they would wait for Li Xun to attack that place first. Then, they would let the imperial court send people to guard it. Just like what Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan said, they would change people every once in a while.
"Since it's like this, then you can continue to stay here. I'll go back with your Grandpa Zhang to rest." Seeing that there was nothing else for him to do, the Old Man Pi said goodbye and left.
As soon as the two left the Drill Ground, they got on the carriage and asked the driver to slow down. They still had to discuss things.
"There's actually gold over there, and it seems like there are other things too. This time's harvest is not small. But why do I feel like the Zhang family already knew about it? Look at their preparations. They just happened to go over there to deal with other people."
Old Man Pi leaned against the carriage and said this to Old Man Chang. After that, he ordered the driver to go to the docks to see what was there.
Old Man Chang also had the same feeling. From the things prepared by the Zhang family's fleet, it was indeed so. They must have gotten the news from somewhere. But that didn't seem right. How long has it been since the Zhang family arrived here? Could it be that a fisherman accidentally went over there?
How could that be? How long would it take to go and return? What kind of boat would a fisherman have? They would have long capsized in the water. It didn't make sense.
After pondering for a while, Old Man Chang said, "I also think so. But if we ask them, there's nothing we can do if they don't admit it. It seems like we can only wait. If they are more familiar with things over there, maybe it can explain some problems."
"Yes, I think they are eyeing all kinds of things in that place. Otherwise, they wouldn't be like this. And those people from the Jiangnan East Road, when did the Zhang family become so generous? They actually let them not pay for it and let them lend their ships to do business. After they arrived here, they didn't try to lower the price and even let their ships not carry the same things.
Do you think the Zhang family is scheming against the merchants from the Jiangnan East Road? This won't do. We can't mess up over there. Once something happens, many places will be affected. We have to ask them carefully. The Jiangnan East Road's merchants are at the docks here. We can ask them together. "
Old Man Pi agreed with Old Man Chang's words. At the same time, he also mentioned the merchants. If it was someone else, it wouldn't be a big deal. People would think that it was the right thing to do. But the Zhang family was not so simple. They could always connect many things together.
Yes, connecting them together. Old Man Pi thought of this and suddenly said, "Do you think the merchants from the Jiangnan East Road have anything to do with that newly discovered place? The Zhang family's actions shouldn't be simple, right?"
"Yes, that makes sense. Let's go and ask. If it doesn't work, we'll wait for Li Xun to send troops and see what the result is. I don't think the Zhang family will hide it forever."
After Old Man Chang finished speaking, he began to ask the driver to hurry up. The more they knew about this kind of thing in advance, the more time they had to prepare.
*****
Li Xun was still instigating on the drill ground. The 3,000 soldiers had long been fired up by his words. One by one, they clamored to teach others a lesson. Li Xun also shouted with all his might.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan watched from the side. They felt a little helpless. At the same time, they were curious. The two of them didn't seem to have taught Li Xun this kind of thing. How did he know?
Could this be talent? If so, then Li Xun should be suitable to be a general, not a rich man. When the time came, he would be able to come in handy. Or maybe he could be an instructor or something. Very interesting.
"It seems that Li Xun can also be cultivated. Look at what he's saying now. Good, very good. Let's go, let's go somewhere else. By the time we come back, he'll probably be able to select 1,000 people. Fortunately, the fleet came back in time. Otherwise, it would be easy for things to go wrong."
Zhang Xiaobao said a few words and turned his horse to go somewhere else. He was very glad that the fleet came back early. Otherwise, once the imperial court knew about the army here and arranged for a clerk to come over, it wouldn't be easy to mobilize the army.
Now that everything was under the control of his father, no one would say anything else. Even if the army was sent, it would be very normal. Moreover, this army had not been recognized by the imperial court. If they really investigated, they would say that the local people spontaneously went to fight.
Li Xun continued to instigate. When he saw that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had left, he felt that it was about time to start the competition. As long as 1,000 people went, those who wanted to go had to be within the top 1,000.
The soldiers immediately began to compete. Li Xun found a person and asked him to watch. As long as 1,000 people were chosen, he rode his horse and chased after Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan.
Li Xun caught up to Zhang Xiaobao and turned his head to ask, "Xiao Bao, did you not use that firework this time? Good, I brought it. Do you want to go with me?"
"What do you mean go with you? You can't go. You're just a symbol. What if there's danger? "
When Zhang Xiaobao heard Li Xun's words, he immediately poured cold water on his head. How could he let him go? Wouldn't that be troublesome?
Li Xun was stunned for a moment. He stared at Zhang Xiaobao to see if he was lying. Seeing Zhang Xiaobao's serious expression, he nodded and said, "I know. I just can't go, right? No, I have to go. I have to fight with my people. Even if there is danger, I have to go. Otherwise, am I still a member of the imperial family? "
"Then you go by yourself. No one will stop you. Anyway, the others on my side won't go." Zhang Xiaobao saw that Li Xun was still there and could only use threats.
"Only my 200 people will go. What if they have more people? Well, I won't go personally this time. But I have to go to Yazhou and wait. I have to know the news first."
Li Xun thought about it. It was really dangerous there. If he died, yes, he died. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan usually said that. If he died, then he wouldn't be able to do good things for the people in his fief.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
