Chapter 754: Unexpected Encounter

Chapter 754: Unexpected Encounter

Chapter 754: Unexpected Encounter
Pei Ji's backup plan was to auction off the Yuan family's land, houses and shops in Guanzhong, especially the Yuan family's fertile farmland in Guanzhong. There were a total of six manors, with a total of tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland, which amounted to at least one million acres. According to the current land price, each acre of land in Guanzhong was worth ten strings of coins, so the auction price could be raised by ten million strings of coins, which was enough to solve the big problem.

But Li Yuanye knew very well that if he touched the Yuan family's land, the Guanlong nobles would no longer support him.

Pei Ji reminded again: "Your Majesty, the Wuchuan Association has been disbanded!"

What Pei Ji meant was that there were no more Guanlong nobles, they were all Guanlong families, and everyone looked after themselves.

Li Yuan still couldn't make up his mind. He walked back and forth with his hands behind his back and said, "Let me think about it again!"

Pei Ji sighed, "Your Highness, please make up your mind as soon as possible! The auction will take time. Once the army starts making trouble, we won't be able to hold on. Now three families are attacking us!"

Pei Ji took his leave, and Li Yuan immediately summoned important members of the family, including his eldest son Li Jiancheng, third son Li Yuanji, cousins ​​Li Shentong, Li Shenfu and Li Shuliang, nephews Li Chen, Li Yu, Li Gui, Li Yuan, and son-in-law Chai Shao, etc., to discuss the matter together.

Li Xiaogong is currently leading his troops to guard Puzhou Pass and Tongguan Pass, and he is not in Chang'an.

"I need you to make two decisions for me. First, abolish the Sui Dynasty's imperial title. Second, confiscate the Yuan family's property in Guanzhong and use it to supplement military salaries. I want to hear your opinions."

In fact, Li Yuan had already reached a consensus with his ministers on the first question, but he wanted to hear the opinions of his family.

Li Shentong said slowly: "Brother, do you mean that you will no longer abdicate?"

Li Yuan nodded, "There are no conditions for the time being, so I can only continue to maintain the title of King of Tang."

"But you have to think carefully, brother. Once the imperial title is abolished, it will be impossible to become emperor again."

Abdication is the best way to become emperor. Once this opportunity is missed, the only option is to use Yu Wenzhi's method of forcibly ascending to the throne. Under the current situation, that method has almost no chance of success.

To be crowned emperor, one must abide by the law and have a legitimate title. One must either abdicate, or ascend to the throne naturally after unifying the world, or pass the throne to the royal family. Like Xiao Xia, who had already unified most of the world, he finally took out the will of his grandfather Yang Jian and ascended the throne as the crown prince. Even though his father was the emperor, he did not follow in his father's footsteps, because his father Yang Guang designated his grandson to succeed him, not his son.

Therefore, Li Shentong’s reminder is of great significance. Once they give up the title of emperor, there will be no hope of ascending the throne.

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan slowly said: "What I am thinking about now is how to survive, not the throne!"

Li Yuan's words "survive" made everyone pragmatic. Since they were no longer considering ascending the throne to become emperor, why would they care about the support of the Guanlong nobles? Everyone unanimously agreed to confiscate the Yuan family's property in Guanzhong.

Of course, Li Yuan did not completely confiscate the Yuan family's property. He only confiscated the six manors of the Yuan family, and left the shops and houses unchanged.

Li Yuan immediately ordered Li Jiancheng to be responsible for selling the Yuan family's land. It took three months to sell the 10,000 hectares of land. Why did it take so long? Because no merchants or wealthy people dared to buy. The lesson of Luoyang was too profound. All the merchants who bought large houses were eventually cleared out, without exception. They said they would be compensated, but basically they could not get any.

Since no merchants or wealthy families dared to buy, Li Jiancheng broke the land into small pieces. He divided the land into 200,000 lots, with a minimum sale amount of five mu. This tactic was very effective. People from all over Guanzhong bought the land enthusiastically. In the end, more than 20,000 people participated in the purchase. The one million mu of land was sold out, raising 11 million strings of cash. No one was afraid of being liquidated; this is called not holding everyone responsible for the law.

In Yan'an County, Shi Xiaozhen led 3,000 internal guards on rafts across the Yellow River and arrived at Fushi County. This was also a test given to him by the emperor. To take over the post of commander-in-chief of the internal guards, he must have outstanding achievements.

There was no regular army stationed in Yan'an County, only one thousand local soldiers. When the three thousand internal guards arrived, the local soldiers immediately surrendered. Naturally, the governor and county magistrate of Yan'an County all pledged allegiance to the Sui Dynasty without hesitation.

They were originally loyal to the Sui Dynasty, but it was the Sui Dynasty in Chang'an. To the local officials, it was all the same.

Officials from Fushi County accompanied Shi Xiaozhen to the oil extraction site on the south bank of Qingshui. The terrain here was undulating, like hemispheres crawling on the ground, and black oil seeped out from the gaps between the spheres.

There were more than a dozen seepage points, and hundreds of people used ladles and buckets to scoop out the oil.

County Magistrate Wang Xingyao said to Shi Xiaozhen: "No one wanted it before, and it just flowed into the water for decades. Later, merchants bought it in Taiyuan, Chang'an, Luoyang and other big cities. Only then did merchants start to buy it, and many people made a living from it."

"Did anyone dig a well to get oil?" Shi Xiaozhen asked. "Yes, someone dug a well, but not for oil, but for water. As a result, black oil gushed out, and they quickly filled the well. Later, the county made a rule that it is not allowed to dig wells on both sides of the clear water."

Shi Xiaozhen nodded and asked, "Have officials from Chang'an come to see us?"

"I came to see it last month, but I didn't come to see the black oil. I came to check out the salt ponds, which are fifty miles to the west."

“Can the salt cooked in the salt pond be eaten?”

Wang Xingyao shook his head. "If you boil salt directly, the salt will be bitter and astringent, which is unbearable. But we locals boil boxwood in brine, then dry the wood. When cooking, throw a piece of wood into the soup, and the salt will not taste so bitter. In the past, poor families could not afford salt in the market, so they used this method to solve the problem of salt consumption."

At this moment, a soldier came running to report, "General, a team has arrived from Chang'an and has entered the county!"

Shi Xiaozhen was startled, "How many people are there?"

"There are less than a hundred people, mainly guarding an official, and he has several followers."

Shi Xiaozhen immediately gave the order, "Surround them, don't let any of them escape!"

The official who came from Chang'an was Wang Jing, the Inspector of Weapons. At this time, he did not know that the Sui army had already arrived in Fushi County.

As the county magistrate was away, the county assistant took them to the post house to stay, to keep them stable, and then immediately sent someone to notify the county magistrate.

Wang Jing was asking the postmaster in the lobby of the post station about the black oil. There happened to be some black oil with a light in the post station, so he took a bowl and showed it to him.

Wang Jing was a weapons expert after all. He carefully examined the black oil and immediately realized that as long as the impurities were filtered out, the remaining relatively clear black oil would definitely be a very powerful incendiary weapon. Especially since it had a large output, it could be used as a city defense weapon or a siege weapon.

Wang Jing was pleasantly surprised and said quickly: "I want to go to the scene and take a look!"

At this moment, a soldier ran in and shouted, "Envoy Wang, we are surrounded by the Sui army!"

"Clang!" A bowl of black oil fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Wang Jing's face changed, and he asked nervously, "How many people are there?"

“There are thousands of them!”

Wang Jing couldn't sit down anymore. They only had less than a hundred people, while the other side had thousands. What was the point of resisting?

He suddenly grabbed the postmaster who was wiping the black oil off the ground and shouted, "Why didn't you tell me there were Sui troops here?"

The postmaster said with a sad face: "Aren't you also an official of the Sui Dynasty? How can we tell them apart?"

Wang Jing had no choice but to let go of his hand and asked, "Tell me, how many Sui troops are there in total, and what are they doing here?"

"There are three thousand people in total. Like you, they are here to control the black oil."

Wang Jing was stunned for a moment. Could it be that the other party had also discovered the military uses of black oil?

(End of this chapter)