At the beginning of the first year of Qianyuan (758), Youzhou City was still cold.

Supported by two forces inside (Maniwei) and outside (Shuoye Army), Sun Xiurong spent the Spring Festival peacefully in the city in the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty for the only time in his life.

He did not wait for any envoy sent by Shi Chaoyi, Zhang Zhongzhi, or An Qingxu. Even Shi Chaoyi, who had always been respectful and filial to the people at this time, should be aware that although Shi Siming was shot two arrows, he survived in the end.

Everyone in the world knows this.

During this period, Sun Xiurong was not idle and did several major things:

The first major event. Although looking at the world, the power of major forces is not enough, it is unlikely that the Tang Dynasty and the Great Yan will combine to blatantly deal with the Suo Ye Jun. In that case, Li Heng will definitely not be able to get over it.

But everything is not absolute, Sun Xiurong must prevent that. Fortunately, he can expand his army by guarding Fan Yangcang.

He selected three thousand people from Zhang Xiancheng's regiment training army and formed a new battalion, allowing Stayranmé as the commander-in-chief and Gao Juren as the deputy commander. He practiced hard for three months in winter.

Later, Gao Juren was transferred to his own guard camp to replace Steyranmian.

Li Jixun's Maniwei was officially expanded to 3,000 people.

Since Maniwei had already made a good name in Youzhou City, in the eyes of Buddhists, although they were Zoroastrians, they also had the time when Vajra subdued the demons, Sun Xiurong simply called the newly formed camp of Steyranmian the Vajra Camp.

After the Shattered Ye Army entered Ma City, in order to restrain Zhang Zhongzhi from Hengzhou, he naturally controlled his son, the pastoral supervisor Zhang Weiyue.

So he got three thousand best war horses.

He asked people to recruit Hu teenagers from Youzhou, Tanzhou, Jizhou, Pingzhou and other places, mainly Qiang people from Gaoliying Town, and newly formed a cavalry team of 3,000 people, with Yu Wenjing as the commander, named Youyanying.

After expanding the team by 9,000 people and practicing at full capacity for three months, the combat power of these three teams was actually above Xue Ji's army, Zhang Xiangong army (formerly Gao Ruzhen army), and Geshuhuang army (formerly regiment training guards).

As for these movies, whether they (Xue Ji, Zhang Xiangong) or Sun Xiurong himself, they all took the attitude of being close to each other. For Xue Ji and others, although they had nominally defected to the Thunder Ye Jun, they did not understand Sun Xiurong's specific plans, as native Youzhou people, they did not plan to follow Sun Xiurong to the Western Regions.

What's more, since the incident in Anton where Xiaguan killed Shangguan Zili in Pinglu, all generals with more than 3,000 military strength have begun to regard the army as their own private soldiers, and signs of feudal states have begun to appear.

However, Sun Xiurong was also waiting. If any general took the initiative to hand over the army and accepted the adaptation of the Sacred Ye Army, although he was a little disgusted with these troops, he would probably recognize them with a pinch of his nose. Under the influence of Shi Siming, these troops have developed a cruel and killing character. For Sun Xiurong, it is neither suitable for military service nor suitable for farming.

It was naturally suitable to work in the mine until death, but Sun Xiurong could not do it at the moment, so he formed a situation where everyone nominally surrendered to the Thunder Ye Jun, but in fact he still did his own thing.

After taking over the city gate, Nan Gongxi's mountain camp was guarded at the beginning. After the initial training of the three new camps, they naturally became the candidates for taking turns to serve.

So, after that, Sun Xiurong had four regular battalions of the Slashing Ye Army (Bogda, Bogra, Slashing Ye Army, and Mountain Camp) in Youzhou, totaling 17,000 and three newly formed battalions, totaling 9,000, with a total of 26,000. With the combat effectiveness of the Slashing Ye Army, he defended Youzhou, and then calmly retreated to the grassland from here, and was still free and easy to paint.

Since Zhou Zhi was dead, Zhang Xiancheng had no power since the regiment training army was dispersed. Sun Xiurong asked Jia Dan to replace Zhou Zhi and asked him to start collecting money and grain figures for the five states of Guizhou, Youzhou, Tanzhou, Jizhou and Pingzhou.

The second major event was that he asked Xue Muyun to formally marry Bai Qiluo, and he also took Gao Xianzhi's orphan Gao Lian'er as his adopted daughter. After asking everyone's intentions, he betrothed him to Nan Gongxi.

Nan Gongxi is a Hu man, so naturally there is no idea that Han people will become their wife after not taking prostitutes. At present, Gao Lian'er is Sun Xiurong's adopted daughter. As the only son of the great chief of the Nangong tribe, Nan Gongxi agreed without any consideration.

After doing this, those who are interested thought, "Although Gao Xianzhi was defeated and killed, his family was also implicated. The only relatives left in this world were Bai Qiluo and his daughter. Sun Xiurong did this, at least he had a good relationship with the Anxi Army. Now, because Dunhuang County, Hexi was occupied by the Tubo people, Anxi was lonely in a foreign land, and it was only a matter of time before the four towns fell into the hands of the Shattered Ye Army."

The third thing was to give Gao Ruzhen, Shi Chaoqing, Zhou Zhi and others a grand funeral. In fact, Zhou Zhi and others were captured and killed by Sun Xiurong instigated surrendered soldiers. This was naturally to win people's hearts. These people did not have a good person, but behind them were thousands of others. It would be better to use Fan Yangcang's money to borrow flowers to offer Buddha.

As for the remains of ordinary soldiers, they were allowed to be taken back by their families for burial.

By the end of February, Jia Dan finally figured out the situation of Dingkou in the four prefectures except Guizhou.

"The Protectorate, the Ministry of Service has been carefully separated for three months, and finally I have figured it out."

"There are 65,000 households in Youzhou and about 350,000 Dingkou"

"There are 6,000 households in Tanzhou and about 30,000 households."

"There are 5,000 households in Jizhou, and about 25,000 Dingkou"

"There are 3,000 households in Pingzhou, and about 20,000 households in Dingzhou..."

When Sun Xiurong heard this, he frowned and said to himself: "Except for Youzhou, the rest of the other places are known as major counties. How did Dingkou wither so much?"

Then he asked, "Where are other states?"

Jia Dan replied: "In addition to Youzhou, there are more than ten major counties in the south, and Dingkou is more than 500,000."

"What about you near Youzhou?"

"There are 50,000 households in Mozhou under General Bai Xiaode's control, 300,000 Dingkou, 90,000 Yingzhou, 500,000 Dingkou, 120,000 Cangzhou, and 800,000 Dingkou!"

Although I heard it, my eyes regained my spirit.

......

In early spring, someone finally came.

Li Mi!

At this time, Li Mi did not accept the actual position of Emperor Li Heng, but instead took the title of "Silver and Green Guanglu Dafu" as his staff to participate in everything. However, in order to negotiate with Sun Xiurong this time, Li Mi accepted the position of the subordinate minister (that is, the Huangmen Minister and the deputy position of the subordinate minister) for the first time and came with the imperial envoy.

Li Mi came from Taiyuan via Jingxing Road and Hengzhou, which confirms the speculation that Zhang Zhongzhi had truly defected to the Tang Dynasty.

With Li Mi, Sun Xiurong's old friend Yu Chaoen was also here. Yu Chaoen is still in a high position and has a high position. His position is: the Three Palaces' Procuratorate, the Left Supervisor General, and the Instructor of the Escort and the Supervisor!

This time when he came to Hebei Road, Li Heng obviously wanted Li Mi and Yu Chaoen to restrain each other. On Yu Chaoen's head, there was an "Empression and comforting military advisor to the Tang Dynasty Hebei Daoguan Army"!

The appearance of this name made Sun Xiurong understand immediately!

An Qingxu and Shi Chaoyi have secretly surrendered to the Tang Dynasty!

Li Mi and Yu Chaoen are only two years younger than Sun Xiurong, and are both thirty-six years old this year. Although one is an imperial envoy and the other is the highest commander of Hebei Road, they are respectful in front of Sun Xiurong.

In the study of the Fanyang Jiedushi Mansion, Sun Xiurong met Li Mi.

"Dalang"

"Li Lang"

Since Li Mi left the Western Regions, the two have actually not met for nearly twenty years. Now, the two original young men are heading forty years, and Sun Xiurong still maintains the neatly trimmed short beards every day, while Li Mi has long been a "middle-aged" high-ranking official with three long beards (the minister of the disciples is from the second rank).

As the only person in the world whom Sun Xiurong admired him, although he did not end up in his arms, he still gave him full respect.

After the two of them greeted each other, Li Mi asked, "Dalang went south to Youzhou and defeated the bandit Shi Siming, which was of great significance..."

Sun Xiurong smiled and said, "Can the imperial court receive a reward?"

Li Mi asked back: "I heard that Dalang accepted the title of Melgen Khan from various tribes in Mobei not long ago. In addition to the former Bogda Khan, I was confused, but after consulting the officials of the Honglu Temple who were familiar with tribal affairs in the court, I finally understood it."

"oh?"

"Bogda Khan is one of the highest titles that the tribes from the Xianbei family can give. No one has ever received this title. Melgen Khan is the highest title that the tribes of Shiwei, and the tribes of Hei Shui Mohe have never received..."

Sun Xiurong said: "You have not forgotten one. Thanks to the love of the remaining Turkic tribes and some Uighur tribes, they also gave me the name of Vijay Khan."

Li Mi's expression frightened, "So, the possible honorary name Dalang in the Mobei Land has been collected?"

Sun Xiurong took a sip of tea leisurely, "It's almost the same. Of course, the Western Regions tribes have also received honorary titles, so I won't go into details. What I want to know is, what kind of reward did Li Lang bring this time?"

Li Mi's thoughts were heard, "Da Lang is so handsome. After the World War Youzhou, he has long been famous all over the world. Unless he is the King of Yizi, he doesn't like it at all, but this time..."

This time, Li Heng did ask him to bring an imperial edict, but it was just a title of "Nei Yan County Prince, Special Advance, the General of the Pillar Kingdom, and the General of the Assistant Kingdom". If it were in the past, when the Tang Dynasty was in its prime and Li Longji was still in power, I was afraid that such a reward would not have been taken out, and Sun Xiurong would have knelt down and thanked God for his kindness.

But the situation is very different now. The Tang Dynasty is rapidly declining at a speed visible to the naked eye, and such rewards are no longer available.

Sun Xiurong's mood at this time was also very different from before. He is almost thirty-eight years old now, and he is no longer as vain as before. For some things, for the sake of efficiency, he still needs to cut the mess quickly.

After a while, he put down the teacup.

"Li Lang, if someone else came, I would have sent him away long ago. My opinion is very simple. I will be named King of Qin, the Protector of Anxi and the Protector of Beiting. Everything else is easy to say."

After thinking about it, he still couldn't completely break up with the Tang Dynasty, but with the throne of Yiziwang, a complete set of regulations could be formally set.

"Besides, now that Hexi is cut off, in return, I will help you defeat the Tubo people and expel them, so that your country can recover Hexi. As for Longyou, I will rely on you to wait for yourself."

"Also, I am going to migrate some of Dingkou, Hebei Road to Anxi, about 200,000 households."

"ah?!"

Li Mi fell to the ground, and Sun Xiurong was unmoved. He walked forward and leaned closer to him and said, "Li Lang is a smart man. With the current situation of Hebei Road, even if An Qingxu and Shi Chaoyi surrender, they will not be honestly governed by the Tang Dynasty."

"Since I am not subject to the control, these Dingkous are no different from those in my hands. Moreover, I am nominally a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, at least I am better looking in terms of face."

"As for Youzhou and Cangzhou, in order to balance Shi Chaoyi, Zhang Zhongzhi and An Qingxu, I suggest setting up two jurisdictions. Youzhou can be handed over to Shi Shen, Mozhou and Cangzhou areas to Xue Ji, Hedong Xue Ji is a prominent family in Hedong. If he really surrenders to the Tang Dynasty, he will most likely not rebel again, and he will be able to separate the exchanges between Shi Chaoyi, An Qingxu and Shi Shen."

"After I moved to Dingkou in Youzhou, Cangzhou and other places, the imperial court could use the excuse of moving to Dingkou in the south of Mozhou to fill the lack of Dingkou in the north to test Shi Chaoyi and An Qingxu. If they agreed, it would be good. If they did not agree, it would be confirmed what I just said. After Shi Shen and Xue Ji moved away in large numbers of household registration, they were weak, so they could only honestly accept the control of the Tang Dynasty and become loyal to the vassal states of the Tang Dynasty. Look..."
Chapter completed!