Zhang Jing, wearing navy blue lord armor, strode into the camp, and he kneeled down on one knee: "My Lord Zhang Jing, please pay homage to the emperor! Please forgive me for being with me, and I cannot give up on my armor."

"Flat." Li Shimin looked at the tall young man wearing iron armor, his tough and tender face, the slightly stubble, and the sharp and uncontrollable eyes.

He secretly praised in his heart, and he was indeed a great man.

This is not only Zhang Chao's son and his son-in-law.

But the red nine-headed bird badge on his breastplate reminded him. The new family emblem of the Zhang family on the Bashang looks quite gentle, and seems to be a warm sun.

The Supreme Emperor, who is familiar with the Shanhai Sutra and many ancient classics and legends, knows very well what is the nine-headed bird, ghost phoenix, ghost car, and ghost bird.

This is an ominous bird, extremely fierce, with nine-neck heads, one of which was shot off and bleeding constantly.

The nine-headed bird in the sky and the Zhang family on the ground, the nine-headed bird in the sky, and the Zhang family on the ground, the nine-headed bird in the sky, and the Zhang family on the sky is immortal.

"Taipinglang, come up and I will take a good look at you. On the day you were born, I went to see you and hugged you in person. In the blink of an eye, you can command troops and guard one side."

Zhang Jing stood in front of the emperor's door, and Li Shimin looked at him, as if he saw himself when the Taiyuan raised an army, passionate and flying.

"Sit next to me." Li Shimin took Zhang Jing's hand and sat down, "I heard that you did a very good job in Liuqiu. In less than half a year, you have achieved such a great victory against Shanyi, and you have captured more than 100,000 prisoners. Now the main force who resists Shanyi is surrounded by you on this Jilong Mountain. You can fight to the best of your good job!"

"It's all about your Majesty's protection, and the soldiers are attentive." Zhang Jing said with a smile, with a little pride that could not be concealed in his words.

"Young people, excessive humility is pride. Of course, there are the contributions of the soldiers in war, but the contributions of the commander cannot be erased. The more I look at you, the more I like you, I did not misunderstand at the beginning, and chose you as my son-in-law at first glance. It is better to take Changle and follow me to America. Then you will fight with me and conquer America and conquer a great territory. I will grant you a king and give you a country of thousands of miles."

Zhang Jing's smile was frozen.

America?

He really didn't think about going there. This Liuqiu is already very good. Being the Duke of Liuqiu and even inheriting his father's title and becoming the King of Luzon in the future will be great for this life.

Zhang Chao smiled and said nothing.

Li Shimin is just a joke. Even if he really takes jokes as the truth, Zhang Chao will take it as a joke.

How could Zhang Chao's eldest son go to America? Maybe in another ten or twenty years, Zhang Chao will send one or two concubines to the Americas to explore, but it is definitely not now.

"Hahaha, I'm just kidding you. Maybe in the future, you and Changle have more children, and you can send one or two little guys over here. Then I will give them a fiefdom in America!"

Let's hee together.

The Supreme Emperor came to Liu Qiu and came directly to Jilong Port.

This can be said to have surprised and even excited all the generals and schoolmen of Liu Qiu. No matter what, this is a great emperor.

Perhaps the top nobles in the court were not so loyal to the emperor. However, the soldiers below were still very respectful to the emperor.

Even though he did some ridiculous things before abdicating, the court also announced that it was a demon monk who was poisoned by the demon pill and had a bad brain.

Now that His Majesty abdicates and passes the throne to the crown prince, now as the Supreme Emperor, he will go to America to inspect the Yin tribes this time.

Zhang Chao accompanied the emperor and brought many wine, meat and vegetables for the army, as well as a lot of coins and silk cloth. The soldiers were very happy to kill pigs and sheep in the camp and distributed silk money to reward them.

When these people received the reward, they all shouted the name of the Nine-Headed Bird.

Li Shimin listened from afar and felt very uncomfortable. These elite soldiers were not Li Tang's soldiers, but Zhang's soldiers.

To be honest, the relationship between the court and these princes is now related to the past court and the vassal states such as Khitan, Xi, Tuyuhun, etc., and the relationship is closer, but the princes have indeed become one country.

However, everyone used the court's laws and taxes, promoted unified Mandarin and standard Chinese characters to make the connection closer, but this could not change the fact that the princes formed their own country.

"More than ten years ago, this place was a wilderness, and it was not even a place to be sent to the court for free." Li Shimin smiled self-deprecatingly, "I was extremely surprised when Zhang Chao proposed to buy this place. Later, Zhang Chao said he wanted a slave capture permit, to come here to capture slaves, and to explore mines here. I agreed and sold it for a good price. Later, I simply enfeoffed the place to the Zhang family as a fief, and made another profit."

More than ten years ago, Zhang Chao was doing a loss-making deal with him like a big fool.

More than ten years later, he felt that he was the big fool and sold a piece of gold as a brick.

Yuchi Gong sat there roasting lamb legs, carefully rinsing the oil carefully, slowly turning it over to make the force more even. But he was thinking about another thing in his mind. The Supreme Emperor still felt that he had suffered a loss. In his mind, this is his. But calm down and think about it, is this the case?

No, that's not the case at all.

Although Liuqiu had discovered it in the Central Plains during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Eastern Wu had also been on the island to settle during the Three Kingdoms, and the Sui Dynasty also sent troops to attack and even captured one of their chiefs.

But is Liu Qiu from the Central Plains?

No, it has never been from the Central Plains dynasty, and it is different from Hainan.

It was Zhang Chao, who spent manpower and material resources to land in Liuqiu, and explored colonization here and operated little by little. At first, he bought a foothold from Liuqiu tribe, and then expanded little by little through transactions, etc.

Finally, for more than ten years, the Zhang family spared no effort to immigrate, explore and conquer, which turned the former wild land into the current rich pearl of the sea.

If it weren't for Zhang Chao, Yuchi Gong thought, maybe Liu Qiu would be the original desert island where birds would not shit in another hundred or two hundred years.

This is the fact.

From beginning to end, the court suffered no losses.

Even a big profit was made, and I collected money from the Zhang family twice, not one or two million guan, but tens of millions of guan. Secondly, after Liu Qiu developed it, it sold grain to the Central Plains every year, and more and more. Now, millions of guan a year are sold, and the price is not high, which is another great thing for the court.

Not to mention, when Liuqiu was developed and immigrated a large number of people, this place became a huge market, and how much goods were sold here every year, the imperial court received taxes. Especially in recent years, half of Liuqiu's annual taxes were paid to the imperial court.

What efforts did the imperial court make in the development of Liuqiu?

It was basically nothing, so I sent a county magistrate, later promoted to a state, a governor, and a little troops were stationed. Compared with the investment of the Zhang family, the court basically did not spend much money.

But I got half of the tax revenue of Liu Qiu in more than ten years.

Now, the imperial court has withdrawn its troops and officials. Although the tax revenue has been reduced to one-third, Liu Qiu has so many people and the economy is so prosperous, and the tax of one-third is quite considerable, which is a net benefit without cost.

In the past, Liu Qiu would not pay tribute to the court. Even if a vassal like the Khitan paid tribute, how much could it pay in a year? How much would it cost to pay a few thousand cattle and horses if you die?

For the first time, Yuchi Gong discovered that the Supreme Emperor's complaints were actually a little too far.

Instead of letting Liu Qiu always be a block-free land and a group of rulers of Shanyi, the court has no benefits for a single document, why can't the heroes like Zhang Chao be granted a feud?

Why can't the imperial court allow those conquered subordinates to graze the land for them to graze the emperor in the past? Why can't they be granted the imperial court's meritorious officials?

Can the court receive taxes to those nomadic tribes that are attached? Can they be the same as the court?

He knew what the emperor was worried about. Many emperors had this idea, thinking that the barbarians and Hu clans would be defeated and put them in front of the door and kept as dogs. Anyway, China and the barbarians were different, so there was no need to worry too much. But if they were asked to enfeoff the heroes of the Han family or the royal family, they would be difficult to feel at ease.

What are they afraid of?

Yuchi Gong knew very well that even if the barbarians were placed at their doorstep, they would not receive the support of the ministers and the people. He did not have to worry that he would usurp his throne one day. But the heroic family was different, very different.

This idea is not completely unreasonable, but Yuchi Gong still feels that the emperor is too stingy.

Zhang Chao made many plans and made many contributions for the Tang Dynasty and the Supreme Emperor. Could it be that even the wilderness of the border areas would rather be given to the barbarians than to the heroes?

Just like this Liu Qiu, the Zhang family bought it at a high price and then bought it himself.

The human heart.

In the past, he thought that the Supreme Emperor's idea was right, but the wrong thing was Zhang Chao, who was a traitor, ambitious and unfaithful.

But now thinking about it, things are not that simple.

Zhang Chao may not be the kind of pure loyal minister, but he must not be a traitor.

Li Shimin was still sighing there, but Yuchi Gong was too lazy to reply.

Zhang Chao walked in with a smile.

"Your Majesty, good news. The Shanyi sent an envoy down the mountain and asked to surrender. Your Majesty is really in the Weijiayu. As soon as he arrived, Shanyi was afraid to surrender."

Shanyi is in a very bad situation now. Although the mountains are continuous, Shanyi occupies one mountain after another, spreads all over the jungle.

But until now, they have never won a single battle, they have lost every battle.

The nine-headed bird flag was flying. Every time under the guidance of this flag, the Tang army advanced to the camp, but they retreated step by step.

Tens of thousands of tribal soldiers were killed or captured, and many of their hamlets in other places were captured, and women, children, and elderly people were captured.

And today, another fleet arrived.

The scout reported that all the emperors of the Tang Dynasty had arrived, and even Zhang Chao had arrived in person.

The chiefs didn't believe the news that the emperor of the Tang Dynasty came. But they knew very well that Zhang Chao's name was quite clear.

Those Han people have been on the island for more than ten years, and they are all under Zhang Chao's subordinates. Even the Nine-Headed Bird Flag is simply the emblem of the Zhang Chao family.

The one who beat them back step by step was Zhang Chao's young eldest son.

Now that Zhang Chao is here in person, how can he fight this battle?

A group of leaders discussed for a long time, but they felt that they could not continue to fight.

In the past, the Zhang family had always sent people to recruit them. Many small tribes joined the Zhang family and lived a good life. Some remained in the village, while others moved to the foot of the mountain to the plains or entered the city. Their life was pretty good.

Some work for the Zhang family, some farm for the Zhang family, and some help them to serve in the army.

"This is a good thing," Li Shimin laughed. "It's better to spread this Shanyi envoy. I want to see you in person."

Several Shanyi came in.

June day.

He was naked, with a piece of deer skin around his waist, and his hair was scattered, and he came in barefootly.

The envoy only knew very simple Chinese, but there were Shanyi people in the camp. Although there were many tribes of Shanyi and even many languages, the Zhang family had been in Liuqiu for more than ten years and had a very good understanding of various tribes and had long been proficient in the translation of languages ​​of various tribes.

After a translation, each introduced his identities.

Shanyi requested surrender.
To be continued...