All this had nothing to do with Zhu Li. He captured nearly 20,000 defeated Shatuo soldiers and nearly 10,000 war horses in Weizhou. He selected 5,000 Han men who were forced to join the army and added them to his Yue cavalry. The remaining Shatuo captives, war horses, and food and fodder were all secretly taken to Beikou by Wu Dao and dealt with by Guo Qizuo and Pang Honggu.
The young general captured by Wu Diao was named Shi Yan. Under Wu Diao's persuasion, he chose to surrender to Zhu Li and was appointed as the Ya General by Zhu Li. Zhu Li then put all the 200 Ya soldiers under his command under his command. At the same time, he selected 600 people from the Yue cavalry army to serve as Ya soldiers. At this point, the number of his Ya soldiers reached 800.
The Yabing are the personal troops, which have the highest salary, the best equipment and the strongest combat effectiveness. This is basically the case for any general.
Shi Yan is two years older than Zhu Li and has excellent riding skills. After joining Zhu Li, because he is a personal general, similar to the commander of personal soldiers, he spends almost every day with Zhu Li. The two are of similar age and often exchange riding skills and martial arts.
After more than a month, Zhu Li's riding skills improved by leaps and bounds. Although he was still slightly inferior to Shi Yan, the difference was still very small. Shi Yan also made some progress and his martial arts improved a lot.
Another scholar captured by Wu Dao was named Guo Chongtao, who was three years older than Zhu Li and one year older than Shi Yan. Like Shi Yan, he was from Daizhou. After Li Keyong conquered Daizhou, Shi Yan was forced to join the army. Since Guo Chongtao was a scholar, he was recruited into the army and was responsible for trivial matters such as copywriting.
Shortly after Shi Yan surrendered, Guo Chongtao also defected to Zhu Li and was sent to Beikou by Zhu Li to be trained by Guo Qizuo. In early May, Li Keju returned triumphantly and promoted Liu Rengong to be the governor of Weizhou, to guard Weizhou.
As for Zhu Li, he asked Zhu Li to return to Beikou and wait for the court's reward. Although Zhu Li was under his command, he had performed brilliantly this time and the court could not fail to reward him. Before the court gave the reward, Li Keju could not take over.
Besides, no matter how much the court rewards Zhu Li, Zhu Li will still be under his command. He believes that the court will not play any tricks like sowing discord. For a governor like him who controls a certain area, such tricks are useless, especially in this era, and the court will not do evil for no reason.
After returning to Beikou, Zhu Li began to reorganize the army. The army he personally led included 800 Ya soldiers and more than 8,000 Yue cavalry. However, the only capable general was Shi Yan, so he immediately promoted Zhang Guihou and Zhang Guimou to the rank of captain, and let them each lead 2,000 Yue cavalry and lead an army. He himself still commanded 4,000 people.
The infantry was also expanded a lot. Gao Yuan's sword and shield soldiers expanded to 5,000 people, Lu Yong's spearmen also expanded to 5,000, and even Pang Honggu's old subordinates of Pang Xun expanded to 5,000 people. Before Zhu Li left, the subordinates of the three of them added up to only 9,000 people. Now each of them has expanded by more than 2,000. All of this was of course Wu Dao's idea. No one knew why he was so desperate to expand the army.
(Shi Yan: According to historical records, he had followed Li Keyong to fight against Huang Chao, and he should be only fifteen or sixteen years old now; Guo Chongtao: Born in 865)
In June of the first year of Guangming, the Tang court bestowed rewards on Li Keju. Although Li Keju was not promoted, the territory under his control became larger. Because of the deaths of Helian Duo and others, the area under Li Keju's control increased from the original nine states to thirteen states. The Tang court also added Yun, Shuo, Ping and Ying states to his control.
However, the official document from the Tang court appointing Zhu Li as the governor of Shuozhou was intercepted by Li Keju in Fan Yang. He had to carefully consider whether to let Zhu Li be the governor.
Ten days later, Li Keju invited
The siblings Yuchi Xin and Yuchi Jin were invited into the study to discuss the matter.
The Yuchi siblings sat upright, looking at Li Keju calmly. To be honest, Li Keju really treated them as his own nephews and nephews, and had no taboos towards them. He directly said, "Young man, the court appointed Zhu Li as the governor of Shuozhou. What do you think about this?"
Upon hearing this, Yuchi Xin looked at Li Keju in surprise, and then glanced at his sister. He found that Yuchi Jin frowned slightly, looking a little excited and a little worried, so he cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Li, Zhu Li is my good friend, and he is absolutely trustworthy."
"Hmm." Li Keju nodded thoughtfully after hearing what Yuchi Xin said, and then turned to Yuchi Jin: "My dear, what do you think?"
As the saying goes, girls are extroverts, and Yuchi Jin seems to have a deep affection for Zhu Li. She is very happy that the Tang court appointed Zhu Li as the governor of Shuozhou. After all, this is the Tang court's recognition of her beloved. However, Li Keju has doubts, which makes her very worried.
After all, the person Zhu Li was loyal to was Li Keju, and it was a taboo for a minister to hesitate. She knew that if she wanted to persuade Li Keju to send Zhu Li to be the governor of a state, she must have a reason to convince him or dispel his doubts. After a little thought, she respectfully replied: "Mr. Li, Shuozhou is just a lower state. I wonder what you are worried about?" (In the Tang Dynasty, the governors were divided into upper state governors and lower state governors. The upper state governors were of the fourth rank, and the lower state governors were of the fourth rank. Shuozhou had only three counties under its jurisdiction and was a lower state.)
Li Keju frowned slightly when he heard this, and said sternly, "Before you came, there were only Zhenyuan Army and Weiwu Army in Danzhou, and Li Quanzhong and I could only form a counterbalance. Since you came, I arranged Zhu Li to be the Beikou Guard, with the purpose of suppressing Li Quanzhong in Danzhou from the military strength. I have Zhenyuan Army and Beikou Army in my hands, and we can support each other, which will definitely make Weiwu Army dare not move at all. This is one reason."
"Secondly, Zhu Li is Xiao Lang's best friend, but I know very little about him. I don't know if he will be out of my control in the future if he becomes a governor. Thirdly, I have personally witnessed his abilities in charging into battle and making plans, so there is no need to say more. But how about his ability in governing? Can he keep his position as governor?"
After hearing Li Keju's concerns, Yuchi Jin's expression eased a little, and he said in a gentle voice: "Since Lord Li knows that Li Quanzhong is harboring evil intentions, he will sooner or later become a threat to Fanyang. It is far from enough to suppress and monitor him all the time."
"We have discussed how to deal with Li Quanzhong before. Everything is mainly based on suppressing and weakening him, but such opportunities are rare after all and take a long time. If Lord Li is worried, we can take the initiative to attack. We can let Li Quanzhong attack Cangzhou and attack Wang Chucun of the Yiwu Army."
"Wang Chucun is the governor of Yiwu Army and is ordered to control Cangzhou, Dingzhou, and Yizhou. But now Dingzhou and Yizhou are under the rule of Lord Li. He will certainly not accept this and will plot against Dingzhou and Yizhou sooner or later. Since Li Quanzhong and Wang Chucun are destined to be our enemies, let the enemies attack each other. No matter what the result is, Lord Li will be the one who benefits the most."
"In this way, not only can the Zhenyuan Army stationed in Danzhou be relieved, but the town of Beikou will also become less important. The Zhenyuan Army will dominate Danzhou alone. If the Khitans and Xi people dare to invade again, they will only be asking for trouble."
At this point, Yuchi Jin looked at Li Keju, who met her gaze with a smile and nodded: "I am truly a female Zhuge Liang, a reincarnated Kong Ming. It's a pity that you are a girl, otherwise I would definitely use you."
Yuchi Xinting
After hearing what Li Keju said, he was excited and echoed: "Mr. Li, I am not boasting. My little sister is a man of both civil and military talents. She is much better than me, her elder brother."
"Master Li, have you not heard that Princess Pingyang once gathered 70,000 women soldiers from her family to help Emperor Gaozu conquer the world and made great contributions. Empress Wende (Empress Changsun) made great plans and gave wise and persuasive advice to Emperor Taizong, helping him ascend to the throne and create the great Tang Dynasty, and she made countless contributions."
"Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been countless grand events of women participating in politics, such as Princess Taiping, Shangguan Dajia (Shangguan Wan'er) and other female Zhuge Liangs and female heroes. There are countless stories handed down. I have been motivated since I was young to emulate the sages and have never slacked off."
"Hahaha, what you said is true. Your talent is indeed beyond my expectation. Brother Yuchi can rest in peace now that he has a pair of children like you." Li Keju agreed happily.
The three of them complimented and were humble, and the topic returned to whether to let Zhu Li be the governor of Shuozhou. Li Keju looked much more relaxed at this time. After all, Li Quanzhong was his biggest worry. Since Yuchi Jin had already offered advice to help him solve this big problem, the only thing left was to consider the use of personnel.
Yuchi Jin took the opportunity to advise again: "Mr. Li, what kind of place is Shuozhou? You should know better than Jin'er what kind of place is Shuozhou. It is an important pass to prevent the Di people. Yanmen Pass and Tanglong Town need to be heavily guarded, especially in this era. It cannot be neglected."
"Jin'er believes that if someone is able to hold Shuozhou firmly, this person must be both civil and military, able to resist the Di people in the north and resist the heroes in the south. Otherwise, Shuozhou will be a bottomless pit that consumes food and soldiers for Lord Li."
"Zhu Li and I have a close relationship, and we know a little about his abilities. Without mentioning how brave he is, let's just talk about his subordinates. In terms of civil administration, he has assistants like Mr. Guo, and in terms of military affairs, he has brave generals like Wu Dao and Zhang Guiba. I think Zhu Li is the best choice to guard Shuozhou for Lord Li."
"Lord Li, I also agree that Zhu Li should be sent to govern Shuozhou. Shuozhou is not an ordinary place. It is harassed by the Khitan and Xi people in the north, and is watched covetously by the Dangxiang in the east. In the south, there are heroes like Zhu Mei from Daizhou. If Lord Li sends an unknown person there, the future of Shuozhou will be worrying." Yuchi Xin said sincerely.
Yuchi Xin agreed with Yuchi Jin's words, not blindly obeying his sister. He had his own ideas. How could he not see Yuchi Jin's feelings for Zhu Li? Although he was valued by Li Keju, he was alone after all. If his younger sister really married Zhu Li in the future, Zhu Li would be able to guard a place now, which would undoubtedly make him occupy a greater position in Li Keju's heart. Even if Li Keju's respect for him faded in the future, he would have external support like Zhu Li, and he would be much more calm in his actions.
Seeing that the Yuchi siblings were supporting Zhu Li with all their might, Li Keju felt relieved. He had a prominent position, but still had no children, and there was a lack of talented people in the clan, which made him disappointed and distressed. It could be said that the arrival of the Yuchi siblings just filled the vacancy left by him, as there was no one available to support Zhu Li.
Nowadays, with warlords dividing the country, no leader can stay in power for long. It is not that Li Keju is not confident, but the countless things he has seen and heard force him to make long-term plans in this regard.
Given his friendship with Yuchi Tian, he could trust the Yuchi siblings without reservation. If he were to encounter any mishap in the future, what he would worry about most would be his own people. The good deeds he had done today would bear fruit if that day ever came. Given the character of the Yuchi siblings, they would not neglect his own people either.
As soon as he thought of this, he made a decision.