Chapter 466 Return to Jiangdu

Chapter 466 Return to Jiangdu

Chapter 466 Return to Jiangdu
At night, Cui Yu lay on her husband's body, her hair disheveled and sweat on her forehead. She put her pretty face on her husband's neck and said with joy in her eyes: "I've been waiting for you so long! I've finally got my husband back."

Xiao Xia held up his wife's rosy face and smiled, "Do you miss me so much?"

"Of course! We are two weak women who have to support the entire palace. I am not afraid of being a little tired. I just look forward to my husband coming back to stand behind me. Then I will feel like I have a backer. Otherwise, there will be nothing behind me, like a cliff, and I will be very scared."

Xiao Xia hugged his wife and said, "I know, that's why I was in a hurry to get back. Actually, you can ask the butler to give out the reward money for you today, so you don't have to go on stage in person."

"I know. Actually, I just want to take this opportunity to get to know the people in the mansion. There are many people I don't know yet. Husband, is this wrong?"

"Of course you are right. I am just worried about safety. If there is an assassin, you are too dangerous at that moment."

Cui Yu was stunned. "Ah! I really haven't thought about the assassin issue."

Xiao Xia didn't want to tell his wife about the assassination attempt in Luoyang, but he knew very well that the other party would find another opportunity to attack him. There were also other people who hated him, and these people didn't dare to confront him head-on, so they would only attack him and his family from behind.

Throughout history, there have been countless assassinations, but they were covered up by various obscure statements, such as sudden death, or someone was fine but suddenly died of illness on the way, etc.

In fact, most of them were assassinated by their enemies and nothing was done about it.

What is a knight-errant? In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a knight-errant was an assassin. The government of every dynasty was very afraid of knight-errant, to a large extent because they were afraid that they would become assassins.

At this moment, Xiao Xia made up his mind to strengthen the security of the palace and his family as soon as possible.

Cui Yu didn't know that her husband was thinking about her safety. She rested her head comfortably in her husband's arms, snuggled in his arms, and enjoyed the joy of reunion after a short separation.

"Have you seen Xiaomei?" Cui Yu suddenly thought of his sister.

Xiao Xia apologized, "I didn't see Xiao Mei. I heard from A Chu that she went to Boling with her parents to worship their ancestors."

Cui Yu then remembered, "Look at my memory. This year is the family's grand festival. I forgot that the grand festival is held every ten years. Everyone must go back to Boling."

"While I'm away, is there anything urgent in the General's Office?" Xiao Xia asked again.

"Nothing urgent, but Mr. Pei came to ask when my husband would be back a few days ago. He seemed to say that some important supplies from Bashu had arrived, so I asked my husband to go and take a look when he came back."

Xiao Xia was overjoyed, thinking that the saltpeter must have arrived, and he really wanted to go and take a look.

The next morning, Xiao Xia came to the military wharf warehouse, which was next to the Xiao family's Pier No. 7. It was a newly built large wharf with a large number of warehouses and a military camp built on the wharf, accommodating a thousand troops.

Accompanied by Pei Wen'an, Xiao Xia walked into the saltpeter warehouse. More than a dozen gunpowder craftsmen were also selecting saltpeter in the warehouse.

The saltpeter was piled up into three small hills, two of which were covered with oilcloth with the four corners tied tightly, and the other saltpeter hill was open, with a large amount of grayish-white saltpeter blocks piled up, which was quite shocking.

"Your Highness, the total is 300,000 jin, and this pile weighs 80,000 jin."

Xiao Xia walked forward and picked up a piece. He could tell with the naked eye that it was of high purity with very few impurities. He broke off a little bit and put it in his mouth to taste it. It tasted salty, so it was saltpeter, not Glauber's salt.

Xiao Xia turned around and asked his aide Song Changen, "Did you buy the mine?"

"Your Highness, the county government said it can be sold. I will buy several mountains next time I go there. In fact, this kind of saltpeter is only needed by Taoists in the local area for alchemy. Although it can also be used as medicine, it is rarely used. It is mainly poisonous. Only we need such a large amount."

“Do the local villagers have any in stock at home?”

"It didn't exist before, but it exists now. People know that this stuff can be sold for money. Now every household goes up the mountain to dig. Next time I go there, I will buy it directly from the villagers. If every household piles up several thousand kilograms, and each kilogram is five cents, it can be sold for more than ten strings of cash. Their annual income is only this much money."

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "So they are all looking forward to your coming again!"

"Indeed, I have already told the villagers that I will go again next spring!" "You, Zheng Rong, and Chen Hua have all made great contributions. I will reward you handsomely and confer you the title of Eighth-Rank Officials."

The staff members are not officials, they are just clerks hired privately by Xiao Xia. The power in their hands is essentially Xiao Xia's power, which is given to them to act on his behalf, so they can only survive under Xiao Xia's wings.

It is difficult for a staff member to become an official, but it can be done. For example, Liu Wenjing was a fourth-rank official in the imperial court. Several other important staff members also had the rank of casual officials. Once they had a rank, it meant that they could be transferred to serve as county officials and truly embark on a career in officialdom.

Song Changen was very excited and bowed again, saying, "Your Highness, I will never be able to repay your kindness even if I die!"

Xiao Xia patted his arm and said with a smile: "Set up a saltpeter procurement system, from mining, transportation, warehouses to shipping, and recruit dozens of people to be responsible for this matter. When you have done everything, I will let you be the county magistrate!"

"I promise to establish all the links of saltpeter mining, transportation, storage, etc. within one year, and live up to your highness' trust."

At this time, Shao Fa, the gunpowder manager, stepped forward and said with a smile: "Your Highness, this batch of saltpeter is of very high quality. I have also been looking for saltpeter mines all over Jiangnan, but I have found a few, but the quality is relatively poor and the output is very small."

"Has this batch of saltpeter ever been tested?"

"Not yet. Today I will take some back to purify it. If there is time, I will conduct a bamboo tube gunpowder test before the New Year. If not, I will do it after the New Year."

Xiao Xia nodded happily, "I look forward to the success of the bamboo tube gunpowder test!"

The New Year was gradually approaching. On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, one day before New Year's Eve, Luo Shixin led two thousand troops back to Jiangdu.

Previously, he led 20,000 troops to suppress bandits in Poyang County and Yuzhang County. Of course, suppressing bandits was only one mission, and the other mission was to escort the salt shops in the western counties of Jiangnan Road.

At present, the completion of the first task is not very ideal, but the second task has been completed smoothly. Xihai Salt Shop has been fully rolled out in all counties and counties in Jiangnan Road, ensuring that every county has a salt shop.

As the New Year approached, the soldiers went home to celebrate the New Year. Luo Shixin also suspended military operations and led two thousand recruits back to Jiangdu.

The government soldiers in Jiangnan were not real government soldiers. Not only in Jiangnan, but throughout the Sui Dynasty, the real government soldiers were mainly concentrated in Guanzhong, Central Plains and Hedong. The government soldiers in Guanzhong alone accounted for 40% of the government soldiers in the world.

The local soldiers in other places were only in name only. Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, had always wanted to promote local soldiers throughout the country, but it was very difficult. The key was to grant land. The population of the Sui Dynasty exceeded 50 million. How could there be so much land to grant to the people as permanent farmland?

Why was the military service system successfully promoted in the early Tang Dynasty? Because a large number of people died at the end of the Sui Dynasty, all the land was vacant, and the government had the land to grant.

Land is the foundation of the military system. Without land as a bond, how could soldiers work hard for the government and the court?

Therefore, except for the local soldiers in Guanzhong, Zhongyuan and Hedong, although they were also organized into military offices, they served as soldiers in their spare time and as farmers in their busy time, and they looked like they were in a formal position.

But in fact, the soldiers were all local county soldiers, and they all entered the military government for training in the form of labor service. When they were needed, they were temporarily recruited and given some subsidies to do the work. After they finished their work, they were disbanded and returned to farming.

They did not have the will to fight for land, nor did they have the strong combat effectiveness of the Guanzhong soldiers, nor did they have a system of lifelong military service. This was the biggest difference between the soldiers in the prefectures and the local county soldiers. Once the soldiers had served, they could not retire and return home until their sons grew up to take over from them. Basically, they spent most of their lives in the army.

This can explain why the Sui Dynasty was so powerful in its early military period, but suddenly collapsed in the middle of the Daye period. The imperial army was unable to defeat the peasant rebel armies that were temporarily assembled from various places.

The reason was that Liaodong suffered a disastrous defeat in the campaign against Goguryeo, and the powerful Guanzhong troops were almost completely lost.

Without powerful local soldiers, how could the local county soldiers be willing to work for the government and the court? As soon as the war broke out, the soldiers ran away.

As the Chinese New Year was approaching, all the soldiers from the Jiangnan Prefecture had to go home to celebrate the New Year, and they could not be stopped. Therefore, the 50,000 soldiers who had been concentrated in Jiangdu for training also returned home. The military camp was empty, with only 30,000 recruits left. They were bound by their military salaries and did not dare to go home.

Luo Shixin was very depressed. He was halfway through suppressing the bandits but couldn't go on. All his soldiers wanted to go home for the New Year. If he didn't let them go, there would be large-scale desertions.

In the afternoon, Luo Shixin came to the General's Mansion and reported the bandit suppression situation to Xiao Xia.

(End of this chapter)