The Great Wei Music Bureau

Chapter 283: Capturing Liang Quyi

Last time, we talked about how Li Yi and his group infiltrated Gu's army and hid outside Dunhuang City. So what will Li Yi do next? Let's read on.

That day, Gu Zhou took Gu Ting and Baozhu Faluo to visit Liang Quyi. The three of them saw a wanted notice for Li Yi and his group at the gate. They did not say anything and continued to walk in. When they arrived at the reception room of the City Lord's Mansion, they met the three brothers of Liang Quyi. Gu Zhou paid his respects and then expressed his demands.

After listening to this, Liang Quyi shook his head and sighed, "Chief Gu, your situation is not unique. We all experienced this when we escaped from the grassland. I gathered the remnants along the way to have so many troops. To be honest, I was like you at the beginning. I asked Di Chou for help and begged him to take us in, but he refused. For the sake of my people, I was forced to fight him and killed him. That's how I became the lord of Dunhuang.

But after becoming the lord of this city, I realized his difficulties. What Dunhuang City lacks most is food. In order to feed the hundreds of thousands of people in this city, I have to do things that go against my conscience, and even have to do business with the Zhenbei Army and buy food from them at a high price.

Chief Gu, I heard that you often went to Guazhou to buy food. How about this? As long as you can help me buy low-priced food from Guazhou, I will agree to your recruitment of troops around Dunhuang City. What do you think? "

Gu Zhou said in embarrassment: "In fact, I have only been to Guazhou to buy food twice, but I heard that the Northern Wei seemed to have some plans for Dunhuang City, and there were rumors of attacking Dunhuang City before. I am afraid it is not so easy to buy food now, right?"

Shi Ying said, "Yes, the Northern Wei's Tiger Guards did appear around Dunhuang before, but they only had 10,000 men and were not a concern. In addition, there was news that they had made a surprise attack on Tuyuhun and returned with a tragic victory. Now they are no longer able to fight again."

Gu Ting wondered, "Since they are no longer able to fight, why is the defense of Dunhuang City so tight?"

Tie Ma said coldly, "This is to guard against that Li Yi. That guy is really capable and cunning. Last time he even pretended to be a prince and tried to assassinate my brother. We are worried that he will use some tricks again, so we strengthened the defense."

Baozhu Falu asked, "City Lord Liang, I want to know what will happen if Clan Leader Gu cannot buy low-priced grain from Guazhou?"

After hearing this, Gu Zhou was very confused. Liang Quyi hadn't said anything definitive yet, so why did Aunt Baozhu take the initiative to ask?

Liang Quyi asked: "Patriarch Gu, who is this?"

"Baozhu Falui, the wife of the chief of the Guli tribe, fled back to the grassland with her son and is now herding with us."

"Guli tribe? The one who is ambitious and wants to plunder the Northern Wei cities with his two thousand men, Guli Pashri? Although I have never seen him in person, I have heard Tianhuo mention him."

Upon hearing this, Baozhu Falu asked immediately, "Have you seen the Heavenly Fire? Where is he? Did he also follow the Zoroastrian priest to Tianshan?"

Tie Ma shook his head and said, "Humph, that kid is like a rabbit on the grassland, running faster than anyone else! The priest just said that he would gather all the tribes to discuss assisting the high priest in sealing the Eternal Night Demon, and he ran away with his tribesmen overnight."

Baozhu Falu asked, "He ran away? Where did he go? Have you ever seen him?"

Shi Ying replied, "Of course I have seen him. He traveled with us for a while. He should be staying with the Dili tribe now. I guess his life is not easy. When we separated, there were less than a thousand people left in his tribe."

"Dilibu, all right, as long as we know where he is!"

"Why? Do you want to take your son to him?"

"To surrender? Humph, let's find him first! Lord Liang, you haven't told me what to do if we can't buy food."

"If you can't buy low-priced grain, I don't care how you absorb other tribes, but buying ironware and horses is definitely not an option." Liang Quyi's idea was very simple. Without food and weapons, it would be useless to recruit more people.

On the way back, Baozhu Faluo asked Gu Zhou and Gu Ting to conceal the whereabouts of Tianhuo, because her son was too young and if he knew about it, he would not be able to stay in the Gu Department with peace of mind. Gu Zhou and Gu Ting also understood that Aunt Baozhu was doing this for Wei Lue's good, so they naturally agreed.

After returning to Gu's army, Gu Zhou explained the situation. Li Yi stroked his chin and said, "I didn't expect that the Zhenbei Army would start a sideline business in Guazhou. No wonder they didn't want to attack Dunhuang. Hey, brother Gu Zhou, when you went to Guazhou to make purchases, you also dealt with people from the Zhenbei Army, right?"

"Of course. There are purchase limits on grain at the border of your Wei State. If you want to purchase in large quantities, you can only buy from the border troops. They will sell us the old grain at the price of military rations and a little higher. There are many people who profit from this, in every city and town."

Li Yi nodded and said, "Okay, let's go to Guazhou tomorrow to handle this matter. How much food does Liang Quyi want?"

"One hundred thousand stones!"

"One hundred thousand dan, how is that possible! There are only 20,000 soldiers guarding Guazhou, and the stored grain is only..." Li Yi turned around and said seriously, "He is testing you! Gu Zhou, go find Liang Quyi now and tell him that there is definitely not one hundred dan. You can only know how much there is by going to Guazhou. Ask him to give you five days to reply! Go quickly, otherwise Gu's army will be in danger!"

Baozhu Faluo finally reacted and immediately accompanied Gu Zhou to find Liang Quyi. Not long after they left the camp, they saw Liang Quyi coming with a large group of people.

Gu Zhou immediately stepped forward and asked, "City Lord Liang, why are you bringing so many troops to my Gu tribe?"

Liang Quyi said coldly: "Patriarch Gu, what are you going to do?"

Gu Zhou replied, "I was just about to go to see City Lord Liang. I thought about it and realized that I definitely can't buy 100,000 dan of grain and grass. I won't know how much I can buy until I go to Guazhou to ask. Please give me five days, and I will give the City Lord an answer in five days."

"Okay, then Chief Gu, go and ask. Today will count as one day!" Liang Quyi waved his hand after saying this, and the group continued to move forward.

Baozhu Faluo shouted, "City Lord Liang, what are you doing?"

"Of course I'll go to Gubu to check. I'm afraid there are spies from the Northern Wei hiding in Gubu. Don't worry, Chief Gu. As long as there are no spies from the Northern Wei in your Gubu, I will guarantee the safety of your people."

Liang Quyi led his men into the Gu tribe camp and searched everywhere for people, but they could not find Li Yi and his group. Liang Quyi gathered all the Gu tribe members together, scanned them, and asked loudly: "Have any of you seen the Wei people? Especially Li Yi from the Northern Wei Dynasty. If you have seen him, please tell me. I have a reward!"

A child raised his hand. It was Hutou. They were now considered members of the Guli tribe, but they lived with the Gu tribe and were taken care of by Aitaji. Hutou shouted, "I have seen people from Wei!"

Liang Quyi was surprised and asked, "Oh, you have seen a Wei person, which Wei person?"

"A man named Li! He and his gang killed Guo Guaizi's men and sent us to Kaiyan Temple outside the city, wanting us to become monks! We didn't want to, so we ran away, and they took us in, so we are here."

Shi Ying nodded and said, "Brother, he is right, it is Li Yi! Do you want to go to Kaiyan Temple to search?"

Liang Quyi nodded, clasped his fists and saluted to Gu Zhou, saying, "We are also doing this to ensure safety. Please forgive me for any offense, Chief Gu. Our agreement is still valid. Chief Gu can go to Guazhou to handle business without any worries. I will take care of your people and I guarantee that nothing will happen to them!"

Leave two hundred people to protect the Gu tribe, and the rest follow me! Chief Gu, let's go together? You go to Guazhou to do business, and we go to Kaiyan Temple. "Liang Quyi's tone left no room for doubt. Gu Zhou looked at Baozhu Faluo, who nodded.

So, Gu Zhou, Liang Quyi and others left the Gu tribe, while Gu Ting and Baozhu Faluo stayed in the camp. Liang Quyi also specially sent three people to accompany Gu Zhou to Guazhou City, saying it was for protection, but in fact it was for surveillance.

The two hundred people Liang Quyi left behind set up tents outside the camp for surveillance. Fortunately, their lives were not affected much. Baozhu Faluo looked everywhere but couldn't find Wei Lue and Wei Zhen. When she was anxious, Yuehua's sister Amina came to her and whispered, "Don't worry, Aunt Baozhu, Master Li took them away to Guazhou."

It is said that Li Yi and his party left Gu's army before Liang Quyi's troops arrived. In order to save time, Li Yi took Zhang Biao and rode quickly on his sword. He had to make arrangements in advance and could not let Liang Quyi's men see any flaws.

Li Yi rushed directly into the residence of Guo Chong, the garrison commander of Guazhou. He found this border garrison commander and shouted, "Guo Chong, you are such a jerk! The purchase of food for the border garrison is strictly limited, but you actually allowed your men to sell it. Do you know your crime?"

Guo Chong was the leader of ten thousand soldiers in the frontier garrison after all, so he was not scared by Li Yi's words. He said solemnly, "Li Yi, I respect you because of your great ability! You have no official position now, and you have no power to control me. You rushed into my mansion and acted so rebelliously. Aren't you afraid that I will punish you?"

Li Yi said "haha" in response, then took out an imperial edict from the sack and handed it over. Guo Chong opened it and his attitude immediately changed 180 degrees. The reason was very simple. The imperial edict meant only one thing: Li Yi was appointed to inspect the northwest, and he had the power to execute first and report later!

This imperial edict was naturally fake. Even in real history, the words "execute first and report later" had never appeared. Since the appearance of the imperial sword in the true sense in the Song Dynasty, although there were real privileges, it was only a symbol of status and almost no one actually used it.

Li Yi didn't care about the crime of forging an imperial edict. He was just relying on his good relationship with the emperor. Who else would dare to do this?

Guo Chong handed the imperial edict back to Li Yi and said with a flattering look: "Hey, Lord Li! I really didn't know about this matter! But don't worry, I will definitely find out the truth and give you an explanation!"

Li Yi waved his hand and smiled, "General Guo, you misunderstood! To be honest, I am not here to cut off your financial resources, but to seek help from General Guo!"

"Help, what do you mean?"

When Li Yi explained the matter, Guo Chong said with a smile: "Brother Li, since this is a profitable business, if you want to have a share of the profits, just say so! Why do you have to scare me with an imperial edict?"

"Well, if I don't show you the imperial edict, I'm afraid General Guo may not be willing to help! But don't worry, General Guo, I won't take a penny from this deal. All you need to do is replace the Zhenbei Army with the Huben Army when you transport the grain."

"Change to the Tiger Guards? Hiss, are you trying to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"General Guo is smart, but I wonder how much food we can get this time?"

"How much do you want?"

"That's right, you have to be reasonable even if I ask for 100,000 stones!"

"One hundred thousand shi is fine, but you have to wait a few more days."

"One hundred thousand shi! Where did you get so much food?"

"Well, of course it's through the Yuwen family. They are in charge of the money and grain of Wei. Who else but them can collect grain from all over the place and then transport it to the border town to sell it?"

"Fuck, no wonder the Yuwen family is so wealthy, they have so many ways to make money."

"Hey, Brother Li Yi, you said we can't cut off our border troops' financial resources!"

"Brother Guo, rest assured. Not only will I not cut off your source of income, I will also help you expand this way of making money! So you can first ask them for 10,000 shi, and then sell it to Gu Zhou of the Gu Department through your channels. The price can be slightly lower than that sold to Liang Quyi..."

When Gu Zhou and Liang Quyi's men arrived at Guazhou City, Zhang Biao had already been eyeing them. After some care and bargaining, the order for 10,000 shi of grain was finalized, and the two parties agreed to trade at midnight three days later. Gu Zhou returned to Dunhuang and told Liang Quyi about it. With his men following him, he had no doubts.

When the time for the transaction came, Liang Quyi and Tie Ma led 5,000 troops out of the city and came to the agreed location. After the grain inspection was completed, they were about to pay. Liang Quyi asked his men to carry out a box of silver and handed it to the leader of the Wei army. The other party stretched out a hand and smiled, "It's a pleasure to cooperate with you, Lord Liang!"

The person who said this was not someone else, but Li Yi! He took off his helmet and said with a smile: "City Lord Liang, Brother Tiema, shall we go over there and have a chat?" With a swish, the three of them were directly teleported to the no-man's land, and the Tiger Guards here also started to take action under the command of Liu Xun!