It turned out that during this period, the nine Grand Inspectors had been officially appointed by the imperial court.
Li Shimin personally served as the Central Grand Inspector, with Li Jing leading forty thousand central troops.
Li Xiaogong commanded Dengzhou, Cheng Yaojin commanded Guizi, Qin Qiong commanded Nanyue, and Yuchi Jingde commanded Mobei.
These were the Grand Inspectorates of the East, West, South, and North.
In addition,
Zhang Gongjin commanded Yangzhou (Southeast).
Niu Jindai commanded Luoxie (Southwest).
Li Ji commanded Tingzhou (Northwest).
Chai Shao commanded Liaodong (Northeast).
Among the eight Grand Inspectorates, two had slightly peculiar situations.
Cheng Yaojin was originally assigned to Luoxie, but he flatly refused to accept, claiming he hadn't had his fill of fighting in Tubo and wanted to personally lead troops to capture Guizi.
That's right, Guizi was still under the control of the Western Turkic Khaganate at this time and had not surrendered to Tang. Therefore, Old Cheng was aiming for a fight.
As for Chai Shao, he was assigned to Liaodong by Li Shimin because Fang Er was already there.
The army reform was originally planned to first release the news, and then, after the New Year, each Grand Inspector would take office to assume command of the troops within their respective jurisdictions and proceed with operations.
This approach had its reasons.
First, Li Shimin wanted to see who would step forward, because if they didn't appear now, they would never have the chance again.
Second, the weather was getting colder, making it inconvenient for the construction and development of each Grand Inspectorate.
For a Grand Inspector of the first rank, commanding forty thousand troops, it would be too undignified to have no decent accommodation upon taking office.
After discussing this matter, Li Xiaogong suddenly changed the subject, his expression turning mysterious.
"Brother, do you know why Old Chai came this time?"
Fang Er nodded, "I know. Because I was so focused on training troops that I forgot about fetching Yue'er."
"Heh heh, you know nothing!"
"If there are many women waiting at home, why can't Old Chai's daughter wait at home?"
Li Xiaogong looked disdainful, his expression clearly directed at Chai Shao.
Fang Er was bewildered. What else could it be?
He had been beaten up the moment he arrived, wasn't it because he hadn't treated Chai Yue well?
After thinking for a long time without understanding, he cupped his hands and bowed to Li Xiaogong.
"Please, elder brother, enlighten me."
Li Xiaogong suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha, it's not because you closed that tobacco and alcohol shop!"
Seeing Fang Er's even more confused expression, Li Cun Gong explained the cause and effect.
It turned out that after Chai Shao returned from Nanyue, relying on his merits, whether to self-deprecate or due to his temperament, he had actually dragged Zhang Gongjin to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, stating he wanted to compete.
Upon entering, he had directly summoned eight girls to accompany him for drinks and secretly sent a personal guard to Fang Er's shop to fetch the "small pills."
However, because Fang Er had limited stock, even Xie Yuchen, who was watching the shop, had returned to Fangjia Village to guard the gate.
The personal guard saw the "Sold Out" sign posted on the shop door and returned to report the situation to Chai Shao.
As a result, the drunk Chai Shao immediately declared that even without the "small pills," he would defeat Zhang Gongjin.
He had no medicine, but Zhang Gongjin did – the blue pill, always kept at home!
When he heard Chai Shao mention going to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, he had brought a few pills with him.
Well, for a normal person to compete with someone who had taken drugs in such a matter, what good could come of it?
The obvious result was that Chai Shao ended up thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated.
He recalled that he had stayed in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion for three days before coming out, but this time, the battle was over before half an incense stick had burned.
Even the girls at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion looked at him differently. To him, this was simply a monumental disgrace.
Therefore, the root cause was the closure of the medicine shop.
Chai Yue waiting at Fangjia Village was merely a trigger for Chai Shao to transfer his dissatisfaction onto Fang Er.
After hearing this, Fang Er was quite speechless.
So the whole fuss was about the medicine, and it was his fault for forgetting to restock the shop after returning to Chang'an last time.
Forget it, being beaten by his father-in-law wasn't something to be ashamed of, and besides, his father-in-law had it worse than him.
With the food and wine served, the two drank and chatted about other miscellaneous matters.
Su Feng came to report, "My Lord, those two squads of brothers are still kneeling outside. How should we handle them?"
Fang Er frowned, "Who told them to kneel?"
"Reporting to my Lord, they hadn't met the Duke of Qiao before. Upon learning of his identity, they knelt outside of their own accord, stating they were seeking forgiveness."
"Deal with them after the Duke of Qiao has handled it. Tell them to get up and go about their business!"
"Yes, my Lord."
Su Feng saluted and withdrew.
"Hahahaha, brother, you're doing well. That's how it should be. Come, cheers!"
Li Xiaogong saw Fang Er's handling of the situation and raised his wine cup with a smile.
If this matter were truly judged, those two squads of soldiers not only did nothing wrong but should have been rewarded.
After all, they didn't recognize Chai Shao, and their actions were to protect Fang Er.
Even though their actions were a bit heavy-handed afterward, it was because Chai Shao had knocked Fang Er unconscious.
Therefore, even if Chai Shao were to pursue the matter afterward, he wouldn't have the face to do anything to the two squads of soldiers.
At most, he would just beat them up to vent his anger, which wouldn't amount to much.
"By the way, brother, before coming here, the Emperor also asked to inquire about when you plan to open that bank?"
*Smack!*
Fang Er slapped his own forehead.
His memory seemed to be failing, why did he forget things so easily?
Perhaps he would need to hire a scribe to follow him around from now on?
He awkwardly spread his hands to Li Xiaogong and said,
"I was too busy the past few months and didn't have time to handle it.
I'll prepare it in the next few days and get it done. There are only five locations, and a helicopter can fly there in a day."
After clinking glasses again, Li Xiaogong put down his wine cup, rubbed his hands, and looked at Fang Er.
"Brother, can you spare one of your ships for me?"
"Ship?"
"What ship?"
"The kind you use to transport oil. What good ships, it's too wasteful to use them for transporting oil. How about I trade you one of my Wǔyá Dàjiàn (Five-Tooth Great Ships) for it?"
*Whoosh~*
So, this guy had his eye on those two oil transport ships.
Indeed, although the oil transport ships were shorter than the Wǔyá Dàjiàn, they were still system products. If they truly set sail, even a steam-powered Wǔyá Dàjiàn could only follow behind, watching the waves.
Fang Er smiled slightly and shook his head.
"Trade? How could that be? I'm not stupid!"
If he wanted a Wǔyá Dàjiàn, wouldn't it be better to build one himself? Moreover, he had long since looked down on such things.
"Don't be like that! If one isn't enough, how about two for one?"
Li Xiaogong was clearly not giving up, trying to increase the offer to make Fang Er agree.
"Let's not talk about that for now. Did you encounter the oil transport ships halfway?" Fang Er asked curiously.
So, Li Xiaogong began to recount the story of how he met and fell in love with the oil transport ships.
He had encountered a ship delivering diesel fuel to a gas station in Hejian Prefecture on his way to Shenyang. Seeing that it flew the flag of the Tianhuo Army and was a ship he had never seen before,
He then asked to borrow Chai Yue to go on that ship to take a look.
How could the soldiers transporting oil agree? Li Xiaogong had to call Chai Yue out, and only then was he able to board the ship for a glimpse.
Once he boarded the oil transport ship, his eyes were glued to it, and he couldn't look away.
The oil transport ship was originally a fishing boat redeemed from the system, a specialized vessel for deep-sea tuna fishing. Although the ship was not as large as the Wǔyá Dàjiàn, the facilities inside were over a thousand years more advanced than those on the Wǔyá Dàjiàn!
Unwilling to disembark from the oil transport ship, Li Xiaogong, along with Chai Shao, the two old fellows, forced Chai Yue to have the soldiers on the oil transport ship disembark, leaving only one person who knew how to sail the ship.
Therefore, they arrived in Shenyang ahead of the main force.
As for Li Shun, Yan Shuangying, and others who came together, they were still on their way aboard the Wǔyá Dàjiàn.
Moreover, the nine ships that had not yet been equipped with steam engines and cannons were also towed along this time to Shenyang for hoisting and then to depart for Wa Guo.