Chapter 192 No Big Ambitions
Amid the sounds of firecrackers and the celebration of replacing the old with the new, the 13th year of Tiansheng slowly faded into the dust of history.

The first year of Guangping officially arrived.

At this time, the situation in Longyou and Hexi had become clear. Western Yan had lost its important arm, Liangzhou, and no longer had the geographical advantage over Longyou.

Not long after meeting Murong Abao, Duke Tang Li Yuan received a military report from Chengdu and learned of the rebellion in Nanzhong.

He led more than 10,000 elite soldiers back. By the time he passed Jianmen Pass, it was already February of the first year of Guangping. Only then did he learn the news that the lady had pacified Nanzhong.

When Li Yuan learned about this, he was even more surprised than when he knew that Li Er had taken over Liangzhou.

Almost at the same time, the Jianghuai area in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River also learned that the rebellion in Nanzhong had been quelled.

When Li Yuanhui heard the news, he thought it was outrageous at first, but after thinking about it, it was normal.

Who is the eldest sister?
There were actually very few women who led troops to fight in ancient times, apart from those like Hua Mulan who are not recorded in history books.

Yang Miaozhen in the Song and Jin Dynasties, Qin Liangyu in the late Ming Dynasty, and then Princess Pingyang Zhao.

Not that there aren't any, but there are very few.

However, he didn't have time to marvel at the great achievements of his brothers and sisters, as something troublesome was about to happen.

The new governor of Yangzhou, Gao Zhixing, has entered the Jianghuai area and is currently in Shouchun.

Li Yuanhui had no intention of meeting him.

Both sides are high-ranking officials. In such chaotic times, as a governor-general, commanding tens of thousands of troops, he is much more useful than a provincial governor.

Although Gao Zhixing served as the prefect of Guangling for seven or eight years, he was still quite popular in Jianghuai.

But now, JAC can only have one voice that has the final say.

However, Li Yuanhui had misunderstood Gao Zhixing. Gao Zhixing was not really here to compete with him for power.

Gao Zhixing stopped in Shouchun, chatted with Huainan governor Zheng Shandao for several days, and then looked around Shouchun.

"Although this place is only separated from Yuzhou by the Huai River, it seems like it belongs to two different countries. You, Governor Zheng, have made an invaluable contribution to protecting the country and the people."

Gao Zhixing stood in the fields outside Shouchun City, looking at the wheat fields that had not yet turned green. Although they were all withered and yellow, he could see vitality in their eyes and the joy of harvest.

After leaving Luoyang, we went south along the Ying River from Yingchuan, passing through almost the entire Yuzhou. Wherever we passed, there were often no human habitation for hundreds of miles.

Large areas of fields were barren, overgrown with weeds, and foxes chased rabbits away.

But once they crossed the Huai River and arrived in Huainan, they saw a completely different scene: endless villages, smoke from cooking fires, and the sounds of chickens and dogs.

Although the weather is still cold in early spring, the contrast between here and Yuzhou north of the Huai River is very sharp.

Zheng Shandao smiled and said, "Your Excellency is too kind. I am just doing my job. The people of Huainan can live and work in peace and contentment because of General Li's efforts to eliminate the bandits. Nowadays, bandits are almost extinct in the Jianghuai area, and refugees are being recruited to cultivate the land. Last autumn, we harvested hundreds of thousands of shi of grain. In addition to the treasury and military rations, it is enough for the refugees to eat. If the people can have food to eat, they will naturally not wander around."

Gao Zhixing nodded after hearing this, "Although General Li is a swordsman, he has saved countless lives, which is a great virtue."

Zheng Shandao smiled and nodded, but did not respond. Before he understood Gao Zhixing's purpose, he would not get involved.

Also, does this mean that Gao Zhixing is mocking Li Yuanhui for not doing his job properly?

Zheng Shandao and Li Yuanhui are currently in a cooperative relationship. In addition, the two families are old friends and relatives, so in terms of attitude, he will definitely tend to stand on Li Yuanhui's side.

But it all depends on how these two plan to work together.

Gao Zhixing stayed in Shouchun for five or six days before continuing his journey south. There were more than a thousand people in his group, including more than 200 of Gao Zhixing's own guards, dozens of staff members and their families.

His nephew Gao Ang led a group of 300 soldiers, all of whom were personal guards who had been raised by his father Gao Huangen for many years.

Luo Shixiang brought with him more than 500 people who were originally under his command in the Qingzhou Cavalry, who were also elite cavalry who had fought with Gao Huang for many years.

This elite force of 500 people had been stationed in the vicinity of Luoyang since they followed Gao Huang back to Luoyang the year before. When the central army was reorganized, the Ministry of War thought that Gao Huang was using them to collect empty salaries, and did not take these 500 people seriously. They took the procedure that Gao Huang personally went through this time and transferred them to the Yangzhou Military Governor's Office.

In addition, they also brought the military equipment allocated to Yangzhou by the Ministry of War.

A few days later, in Hefei New City, Li Yuanhui brought a group of officials to welcome the governor Gao Zhixing.

A fairly grand banquet was held in the Governor's Mansion. At least in terms of etiquette, it was impeccable.

After the meal, both the guests and the hosts were very happy.

Early the next morning, Gao Zhixing came to see Li Yuanhui and asked him to go out for a walk.

Li Yuanhui readily agreed. It would be best if they could talk directly. Everyone should make a point and it would be best if they didn't interfere with each other.

However, it was slightly different from what he expected. Gao Zhixing did not discuss with him how to govern Yangzhou, nor did he talk about powers.

Instead, just like he did in Shouchun, he repeated what he had seen and heard, and once again praised Li Yuanhui's insight and decisiveness.

"The whole country is in chaos now. Youzhou and Jizhou were hit by war last year. It will take at least three to five years to restore their former glory. Jingchu and Jiangdong have fallen into enemy hands. Guanzhong and Hedong are occupied by bandits. The Central Plains has suffered natural and man-made disasters, causing the people to be displaced and gather together to become bandits. Only Bashu and Jianghuai can keep the common people alive without moving. General, do you have any long-term ambitions here?"

The two stood on the watchtower of the city wall of Hefei New City and could see the nearby Jiangjun Mountain and the Fei River in the distance.

But looking around, most of the wheat fields are still withered and yellow, although some places have turned slightly green.

After hearing Gao Zhixing's words, Li Yuanhui did not answer immediately. Instead, he thought for a long time before slowly speaking.

"To be honest with you, Lord Gao, I have never had great ambitions. My brothers are better than me. I have never been good at literature or martial arts since I was young. Haha, let alone my brothers, even my eldest sister is more decisive than me."

Gao Zhixing, who had already heard about how Madam Li quelled the rebellion in Nanzhong, just shook his head and smiled when he heard the news.

He regarded these words as the young general's modesty. After all, he had already been promoted to the governor of a state and the General Zhennan before he was even twenty. No member of the royal family had been promoted so quickly since the founding of the Great Yan Dynasty.

And yet he was able to hold on to this position. Not to mention that after the death of the previous emperor last year, he wrote a letter to warn the emperor to beware of King Liang of Bingzhou.

The result was that Prince Liang indeed rebelled. The new emperor Murong Chao said in front of all the civil and military officials that he "regretted not listening to Li Yuanhui's advice."

The Battle of Ruxu repelled the invading army of 200,000 Cao thieves from Eastern Wei, allowing the people of Jianghuai to live and work in peace. Is this your achievement of being neither a scholar nor a warrior?

"General, you are too modest. There are only you and me here. How can you be a young and talented man without great ambitions?"

Li Yuanhui felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. He really felt that his level was not good enough, but compared with the group of heroes around him, it seemed that his level was pretty good?

But his operation was only considered passing, mainly because his brothers hadn't performed yet, so he was not pretending.

"Please don't misunderstand me, my words are from the bottom of my heart. Some things are not clear at the moment, but you will know in the future that what I said today is true."

"I really don't have any lofty ambitions. When I was young, I wanted to use my father and brother's reputation to become an ordinary playboy, a wealthy and idle person, but the current situation added fuel to the fire."

"Right now, what I wish for is to manage the three counties of Jianghuai so that the people here will not be harassed by bandits, and can farm and harvest during the busy farming season, and not have to work so hard during their free time that they die of exhaustion. After paying taxes every year, they will have surplus food to survive the winter and eat until the next harvest in the spring."

"We have food and shelter. It would be even better if we could eat meat every now and then, during festivals."

After talking for a long time, Li Yuanhui felt that he seemed to have gone off topic. These things were what Gao Zhixing, the governor, should do.

Then he changed the subject and said: "Of course, we also need to defeat Cao thieves in the Eastern and Western Wei."

Gao Zhixing couldn't help but smile when he heard this, "What the general wishes is also what I wish for."

When Li Yuanhui heard him say this, he also started laughing.

He actually didn't lie, he just replaced the "three counties of Jianghuai" with two other words which would be more appropriate.

The world.

(End of this chapter)