Chapter 797 Farming and Warfare

Chapter 797 Farming and Warfare

Chapter 797 Farming and Warfare
The river is surging and majestic.

From the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain to the confluence of Weishui River, it stretches for more than a thousand miles and has many beautiful scenery. But today, in the sixth year of Shengui (322), another scenery was added on both sides of the river.

"The thief Shao will die!"

"Shao the traitor is a warmongerer and is hated by everyone."

"Shao is a treacherous servant who bites his master and is despised by the world."

On the west bank of the Yellow River, loud shouts and curses came with the wind and spread far and wide.

In the wheat field at the foot of the hill, a strong man in a red robe laughed loudly after hearing this: "You are just like a three-year-old child. You are so despised."

The two armies cursing at each other across the river has become a local scene and has lasted for a long time.

Shao Xun thought this was boring, it would be better if you let me cross the river, the two armies would set up battle formations, fight a field battle, show your style and level. It was a pity that the Huns had no problem with their brains and refused to let him cross the river.

There is a ferry here, named Caisangjin, which is located downstream of Mengmen Shicao and upstream of Hukou.

When the Yellow River reaches this point, the river bank suddenly narrows, and a stone trough appears, which looks like it was split by a giant axe by a god. This is the Mengmen Stone Trough.

The stone trough was only thirty steps wide. Standing on the river bank, one could shoot arrows to the other side.

But boats cannot sail here because the water level in the river drops greatly. It is said that the water flows like a waterfall, and fish and turtles cannot swim here.

There is a section of water flow that is slightly slower downstream of Shicao, and this is where Caisangjin is located.

But this ferry is also very dangerous as the water flows fast. Once you are washed further downstream, you will reach the Hukou Waterfall.

In fact, Shao Xun was very curious as to why there was a ferry in Caisangjin. After thinking about it, he thought that people on both sides of the river probably did not want to take a detour and would rather take the risk to cross the river by ferry. After all, the boat would not capsize every time, right?

One word: brave!

The most famous hero was Yao Xiang, because he built Yao Xiang City near this ferry to control the dangers of Mengmen and Longmen. Simply put, he was afraid that people would sneak across the ferry.

At this time, there was also a Hun city on the other side of the river. It was not big, only a few miles in circumference. The Hun soldiers who were swearing should be from that city.

Huang Zheng, the commander of the imperial army, found a dozen loudmouths, held up shields and came to the river bank, shouting at the other side: "Is Liu Yang still alive?"

"Liu Yang, be careful or Shi Le will chop off your head."

"Where is Liu Can? Your mother is still in the hands of King Liang. Why don't you come to show your filial piety?"

The soldiers who were working heard this and burst into laughter.

Shao Xun smiled and told Huang Zheng to withdraw the people and stop swearing, it was vulgar!
Of course, Huang Zheng is right.

Liu Cong's three queens, Fan, Xuan and Wang, were all Liu Can's legal mothers, so there was nothing wrong with them being filial to him.

"Zihui, is this your first time seeing Pingyang? How is it?" Shao Xun threw the rake to his personal soldier and asked with a smile.

"The scenery is magnificent and truly shocking." Mi Huang's hair and beard have turned a little gray, and his eyes are not as bright as they were twenty years ago. He looks a little old.

Before they knew it, the two had known each other for twenty years.

In the past twenty years, the world has changed dramatically, and many glorious moments have been washed away by the wind and rain.

The arrogant King Sima Ying of Chengdu is gone.

Liu Yuan, who was born at the wrong time, is gone.

The extremely cruel Zhang Fang is gone.

The former emperor who loved eating cakes is gone.

Sima Yue, who won by chance, is gone.

Gou Xi, known as the "Han Bai of the present day", is gone - to be more precise, he is missing. He may have died in some unknown corner, and no one knows his identity.

Wang Jun, who built his power by relying on the barbarians, is gone.

Liu Cong, who lost contact with others due to prostitution, is missing.

It's all gone...

The Northern Grand Stage, you come if you have a life, and once you come you must keep singing, without stopping, until you die.

"When I was fighting Sima Yong, I was the General of the Western Army and the Governor of Hongnong. I stood on the south bank of the river and looked towards the east. I never thought about recovering the lost territory. I was only worried about how to resist the Xiongnu." Mi Huang sighed, "In the Battle of Dayang, Cao Wu's army of tens of thousands was defeated and suffered heavy losses. Since then, all the armies have been discouraged. It is not easy to stand at Caisangjin today. This is all due to Quanzhong's achievements."

Huang Zheng and other personal soldiers' faces changed when they heard this.

Shao Xun seemed to be unaware and just smiled and said, "In two years, Zihui will still be able to stand on the city walls of Shengle and Chang'an and talk about the past with a smile."

Mi Huang noticed the expressions of Huang Zheng and the others and said, "I will definitely drink with Taibai then."

"It's a deal." Shao Xun took Mi Huang's hand, climbed up the mountainside and looked down.

Mi Huang was old and was out of breath after climbing, but after reaching the top of the slope, he suddenly felt open-minded and felt much better.

"When I was at Biyong, I led the troops to fight, and Zihui took care of things for me, so I didn't have to worry about the future." Shao Xun looked at the beautiful mountains and rivers in the distance, looked at Mi Huang with burning eyes, and said, "Now there are still Tuoba, Murong, Yuwen, Tuge and other bandits who have not been eliminated. Zihui, are you willing to continue to take care of things for me, so that I don't have to worry about the future?"

When Mi Huang heard the word "Biyong", he was a little dazed.

It seemed like something that happened so long ago, yet it seemed to be right before our eyes.

Looking at Shao Xun's earnest and sincere eyes, Mi Huang seemed to see the high-spirited young man of the past again, and his heart warmed, and he said, "Don't worry." "Good!" Shao Xun was relieved and smiled, "I can only be really relieved after I finish these things."

Mi Huang originally thought that it would be good enough to restore the territory to the level before the war among the kings. He did not expect Shao Xun to be so ambitious. He was immediately encouraged and his spirits were lifted.

"By the way, you wanted me to marry your daughter back then, what's going on now?" Shao Xun suddenly asked.

Mi Huang glanced at him unhappily and said, "How could I have waited for you for more than ten years? You would have been married long ago."

Shao Xun laughed loudly. Unless he was really defeated and fled to the East China Sea, he would not be interested in Mi Huang's tanks.

"If you have a virtuous granddaughter, she can be my daughter-in-law in the future," Shao Xun said again.

Mi Huang's heart moved.

"Bring the person here when you have time so that the princess can see him." Shao Xun smiled and went down the mountain.

Mi Huang then realized that Shao Xun had brought him to the hillside. It seemed that they were enjoying the scenery, but in fact there was no one within twenty steps, so he didn't have to worry about being overheard by others.

So, he wisely kept his mouth shut and kept what happened today to himself.

As he walked down the mountain, he suddenly laughed. Quanzhong still had a lot of evil thoughts in his mind.

******
The quarrel near Caisangjin was over, and the spring ploughing was almost complete.

Every year Shao Xun would choose a place to farm as a political example. This year he chose Caisangjin and inspected the river defenses along the way, killing two birds with one stone.

However, there is more to this year than just these two things.

On February 15th, Shao Xun arrived at a newly established city southeast of Caisangjin.

The name of this place is Changning, a newly established county under the jurisdiction of Pingyang County, located in the area of ​​Xiangning County in later generations.

There were already quite a few people here, mainly Di and Qiang. There were more than a thousand families and less than six thousand people, all of whom had fled here from inland areas over the past year. They did not flee because they had no food to eat, but mainly because they did not accept the rule of the Xiongnu.

In addition to them, there are also 6,000 soldiers from the Luonan Prefecture and their followers who are here for garrison duty, led by Xu Meng, the commander of the Yingqiao troops. They are there to intimidate these newcomers and protect Shao Xun's family at the same time.

"They are all the Di and Qiang chieftains who were implicated when Liu Yi was killed." In the bright spring light, Wang Huifeng spread out the yellow book and pointed to the newly compiled household registration.

Shao Xun said "hmm", looked at the Di people who were working in the fields beside the river valley at the foot of the mountain, and said, "Who did your family introduce?"

"There are more than 300 families of the Changguang Lu family in total, and it may take June for them to arrive," said Wang Huifeng.

Shao Xun picked a wild flower and gently placed it on Wang Huifeng's temple.

Wang Huifeng sighed helplessly, and finally said softly: "It's all fate, I don't blame you."

Shao Xun was silent.

There were too many things going on in the past few years, and he had been away from home for a long time. Wang Jingfeng and his sister were already old and in the twilight years, and he wasted a lot of their time.

When he woke up from his sleep in the morning holding Wang Huifeng, he couldn't help but push away the woman's layers of tolerance, and felt a little regretful afterwards.

Although Wu Zetian's mother, Lady Rongguo, gave birth to three daughters after marrying Wu Shiqi at the age of 44, it was too dangerous to get pregnant at this age.

He would be willing to have a beautiful and intelligent woman like Wang Huifeng stay with him, even if it meant just living with him.

"In addition to the Di and Qiang tribes, there are also the Xiongnu in Changning County. It may not be easy to recover." Wang Huifeng knew how to change the subject and started talking about military and national affairs.

"Not only Changning, but almost all of Beiqu is inhabited by Xiongnu." Shao Xun said, "This is Quyi of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period. The place where Prince Yiwu lived has become like this. However, things have come to this point, so we can only take things slowly. If the Di and Qiang in Fengyi are willing to flee here, I will be open to receiving them. After they are settled, they may be useful in the future counterattack against Fengyi."

This is the change that has taken place in the situation.

Even though the food in Pingyang, which was occupied by Shao Xun, was not abundant, the Di Qiang still believed that the difficulties were only temporary and that they would be able to destroy the Xiongnu sooner or later after they recovered.

Perhaps this is a bit emotional, after all, the Di Qiang in Fengyi really didn't like the Xiongnu, even though the large-scale rebellion had been quelled long ago, there were still many people who held grudges. For them, surrendering to the nearby Jin State was the best way out.

In addition to Fengyi, some Di, Qiang and even Xianbei in Shangjun also crossed the river and surrendered.

Considering that many Huns and other miscellaneous Hu tribes crossed the river to the west and surrendered to the Huns last year, Shao Xun and Liu Can were simply exchanging populations, which seemed very outrageous.

"Has anyone from the Tuoba clan gone south to seek refuge?" Wang Huifeng asked.

Shao Xun thought for a moment and said slowly: "Not yet, but I expect someone to come. If they dare to surrender, I will dare to accept them. Tuoba Xianbei is indeed good at fighting, but the internal situation is far from being so stable."

"But it's useless to say anything now. Farm and fight, farm and fight. Only by farming can we fight." Shao Xun looked at the herds of cattle and sheep in the mountains near and far, and the pear, peach, jujube, elm and other trees everywhere, and said, "This place can actually support quite a few people."

How many people you can support actually depends on how much you value it, which is equivalent to your political status here.

If the mountainous area in the western half of Pingyang and Xihe counties is well managed, it will be no problem to feed 200,000 people.

If the business is not run properly, there may be only tens of thousands of people.

After so many wars and with the tribes moving around, it is impossible to count the exact population. Zuo Min Cao only gave an approximate figure: 50,000, half of the number during Liu Han's reign.

Fifty thousand people are only enough to support small-scale smuggling raids, but are suitable for the hydrological conditions at the ferry.

"I wish there would be a bumper harvest this year, with abundant crops and abundant cattle and sheep." Shao Xun stood up, stretched out his hand again, pulled Wang Huifeng up, and said, "Then we can conquer those who refuse to obey."

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Don't be impatient for success," Wang Huifeng advised.

"That's just talk." Shao Xun sneered, "First, plant the land well, and by the way, seduce the 'rebels' within the Xiongnu and Xianbei."

(End of this chapter)