Chapter 819 Ladder

Chapter 819 Ladder

Chapter 819 Ladder
After October, the first batch of replacement soldiers arrived in Pingyang. They were Shao Xun's favorite assassin from Luonan, and together with his followers, they numbered 6,000 people in total.

The Yicong army rushed over from Liyang.

The Black Spear Left Battalion came from Henei, and the Silver Spear Central Battalion came from Bianliang, replacing the Silver Spear Left and Right Battalions.

Ten thousand members of the Imperial Guard's Right Guard also arrived in Hedong.

The rotation of defenses was actually a considerable expense, and as usual, it was supported by grain supplies from the four counties of Chen, Liang, Nandun, and Xincai.

From this point of view, the basic situation is the best. When Hebei was providing disaster relief, taxes were collected quickly, officials did not hinder, and a steady stream of grain was sent to Hebei.

Of course, there are more than twenty counties in the world, and there are a lot of holes to be filled among the twenty counties. The real big money has to come from other places.

On October 20th, the first day that the Luonan soldiers arrived, they solved a major case, which opened the eyes of the 6,000 soldiers of the Heiliang Left Camp who had just arrived.

A group of scholars' sons, covered in dust and dirt, were escorted by palace soldiers and imprisoned in a military camp outside the city, ready to be exiled to the capital. The charges were given by the traitorous governor Shao Fan: secretly brewing liquor, violating the ban; getting drunk in the mourning hall, violating human ethics.

These seven or eight young men from the Cai family of Kaocheng, the Luqiu family of Juye, the Zhong family of Changsha, the Feng family of Beihai, and the Xu family of Gaoyang were considered to have died in the community.

An old man died in the Jia family of Xiangling, so it was normal to brew some wine for the funeral. The governor of Ci Yan originally turned a blind eye and did not intend to intervene.

However, these seven or eight people who came to pay their respects were drunk before leaving and had taken some Wu Shi San. After running to the mourning hall, they drank heavily again, and then appeared naked, with disheveled hair, and danced in front of all the guests.

In the end, seven or eight naked men danced around the host's women...

However, it didn't take long before Pingyang County Magistrate Liu Fang, under the order of his old superior Shao Fan, led his troops to the door and arrested all these people, and also arrested several people from the main family of the Jia family.

If nothing unexpected happens, these sons of scholars will pack their bags and go to Langu County, Kelan Commandery to settle down. As for whether they can come back after the amnesty, it depends on the situation. In short, it is not very optimistic - the preferential policy is that if their family members are willing to follow, they can listen and settle in Langu together.

General Hou Feihu of the Fujun Army (third rank) had no expression on his face when he heard this.

He had the power to establish his own government, and most of the low-level staff in the shogunate were taken care of by his old brothers, or some local tyrants and children of poor families were recruited. However, the middle and senior level staff had to be reported to the Ministry of Personnel for approval, so there were several children of big families, so he was very clear about the moral character of these people.

A while ago, a man named Liu from Pei State was fired because he had sex with the host's concubine at the wine table during a party, and a group of people watched and commented on it together and exchanged their experiences with each other.

Although this behavior was not uncommon among scholars, it was still too frivolous, so he was dismissed.

Hou Feihu was a man of sharp mind. He felt that the reason for dealing with these people today was not just because of the crimes listed, but more likely to be a warning to the aristocratic families.

Fair and just punishment without breaking the rules is beyond reproach.

The man who assassinated the traitor Shao Fan had probably been secretly observing them for a long time.

"General Hou." Wei Zhan, the Minister of Five Armies and the Left Prime Minister, had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Hou Feihu dismount from his horse, he immediately stepped forward and saluted.

Even though Hou Feihu was only a third-rank general, don't forget that he had the privilege of establishing his own government.

In the Liang State bureaucratic system, "Kaifu Yitong Sansi" was an additional title and a casual official, ranking among the first rank. It was a reward for his honor of capturing the capital of the enemy country and should not be taken lightly.

"Duke Wei." Hou Feihu bowed.

"You are too kind." Wei Zhan said with a smile, "Does the general have a courtesy name?"

"Yuan Minoru."

"General Yuanren, the king has prepared a mansion for you in the city. It is the same house you lived in before. General Wang (Que'er) just moved out and vacated it. From today until the middle of the twelfth lunar month of next year, it will be your residence." Wei Zhan said, "The mansion is fully equipped. If the general has a family--"

"I brought it." Hou Feihu nodded.

Wei Zhan was confused and subconsciously glanced at the carriage that was guarded by his personal soldiers.

He had inquired and found out that Hou Feihu was slightly younger than King Liang, had been married for ten years, and had one son and two daughters.

The wife was from a humble family and was born into a wealthy family in Luyang. She died of illness during the epidemic.

When Yewang's funeral was held, many generals and officers gathered, and officials from Henei, Shangdang, Jijun and other places also sent people to pay their respects, which was quite exaggerated.

Now it has been almost a year, and Hou Feihu still hasn't married a new wife, and many people have become interested.

Wei Zhan was hinted by the Minister of the Chancellery Pei Miao that he planned to marry the daughter of the Wei family to Hou Feihu, but he had not yet started the action and planned to test the waters first. However, who were the so-called family members he brought today?
Hou Feihu was a man of meticulous mind and had a vague idea of ​​Wei Zhan's thoughts.

Actually, it was nothing. He planned to make his concubine Liu his legal wife.

Liu was the concubine Liu Cong given to him by King Liang. She had given birth to a son for him, and he still liked her very much.

There were people around him who advised him against it, saying that marrying a concubine from an enemy country would affect his future and was not in accordance with etiquette, but Hou Feihu came from a grassroots family and sometimes he was too sentimental. He was determined to make Concubine Liu his principal wife and had no plans to marry anyone new.

Fortunately, Master Shao did not blame him and even sent someone to deliver a gift.

Marrying Liu is better than marrying a woman from a prominent family. He doesn't want to get involved in too many troubles.

Wei Zhan suppressed his thoughts and said, "There are already 40,000 bushels of millet, 20,000 bushels of wheat, more than 10,000 bushels of millet and beans, and 50,000 bundles of hay in the camp..."

"We already have 20,000 bundles of arrows needed for training. If there are any damaged swords, spears, sabers, or halberds, you can send them to the Shaofu for repair. Next year, we may set up a military equipment supervisory agency, and the Shaofu will no longer be in charge of military equipment. Someone will come to take over by then..."

"There are also herbs, bedding, shoes and boots..."

Wei Zhan spoke at length, but Hou Feihu only nodded slightly, then handed the list to his staff to check and deliver.

"Has Suotou made any move?" Seeing the howling wind and the cold weather, Hou Feihu was about to enter the camp and asked casually. "Yesterday, an envoy from Helan Aitou arrived and said that he had entered Shengle at the end of last month. Wuyuan County Duke Tuoba Yihuai is supervising the country and governing the country, with Helan Aitou as his assistant. I don't know more. When the general enters the palace to meet the king, you can ask him." Wei Zhan replied.

"This is actually happening!" Hou Feihu was a little surprised and also a little excited.

"Who says it's not true!" Wei Zhan said with a smile, "Helan Ai was cautious, but he finally entered Shengle before winter. According to the enemy envoy, there was no resistance wherever he passed. The Xianbei, Xiongnu, and Wuhuan leaders near Shengle all entered the city to celebrate. Tuoba Yihuai is considered to have made a name for himself."

"After winter comes, will we no longer be able to fight?" asked Hou Feihu.

"It rains a lot in the summer and snows in the winter on the grassland. Once winter comes, it's freezing cold, and you may be able to fight, but it will probably be very difficult. So Helan Aitou chose the right time to enter Shengle, betting that Tuoba Heli would stop fighting in the winter and ignore him." Wei Zhan said, "And spring is not a good time to use troops. In this way, Helan Aitou will have half a year to reorganize his internal affairs, appoint officials and make promises, and consolidate his power. By the early summer of the following year, even if Heli sends troops to attack, it won't be that easy."

"I see." Hou Feihu said with a smile, "Aitou is quite clever. If Your Majesty attacks Dai next year, it will surely be twice as effective with half the effort, but I don't know if the food, fodder and equipment are ready."

If we were to attack the State of Dai, taking into account the need to attack cities, occupy land, and engage in large-scale field battles, at least 40,000 combat troops would have to be mobilized. Including auxiliary troops, the number would be almost 100,000.

These 100,000 people would consume 300,000 hu of grain per month. If they were to prepare enough grain for a year, that would be 3 million hu.

In order to deliver these 3 million hu of grain from Henan to the front line, you need to prepare more than 15 million hu of grain and beans and more than 200,000 able-bodied laborers, because most of the grain will be consumed on the road.

Well, that’s not even considering the consumption of war horses and draft animals in the army. Those animals have huge appetites.

You can certainly feed fodder, but you can't do this all the time. When there is an emergency military situation and there is no time to herd the horses, you have to feed them grain. When it is not so urgent, you can go out to herd the horses.

To put it bluntly, this amount is almost as much as the amount of grain consumed for disaster relief in Hebei Province in a single year.

Those who think that war requires less food are probably only those scholars and young men who are ignorant of the ways of the world.

Of course, all this is Hou Feihu's speculation. King Liang may not dispatch 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers because he still has to guard against the Huns and Jiangdong.

The scale of the final war will be much smaller, but the consumption will still be huge, no less than a large-scale disaster relief.

Hou Feihu finally entered the camp in the evening.

The military camp was on the bank of the Fen River in the east of the city. At that time, the river was lined with masts and oars like a forest. A large amount of grain collected from Hedong, Pingyang and even Hongnong counties was loaded onto ships and transported north to Jinyang.

War is the ladder for warriors to climb up, this is a sentence that Master Shao often said, and Hou Feihu deeply agrees with it.

Without war, he would not have been able to "establish a government and exercise authority over three ministries."

Without the war, he would not have gotten the beautiful woman who was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Without war, he would not live in a mansion with a large number of servants.

If there had been no war, he and his descendants might have continued to farm in the East China Sea, and wandered among the ravines after being conscripted.

People are different.

He had fought for twenty years and even achieved the unprecedented feat of conquering the enemy's capital, but in the end his inheritance was not as large as that of a newborn baby from a noble family.

Is it fair? Fair and unfair.

The ancestors of these big families may have made great contributions, been through fire and blood, and were brave men who dared to fight and battle. They were also good at managing family businesses, and now they have developed into suffocating behemoths.

Sounds fair.

But their descendants did such absurd things as getting drunk in front of the coffin, lying naked, and spending the whole day drunkenly in the woods and springs, wasting money and enjoying themselves, which was shocking.

This is not fair again.

Hou Feihu also has to fight for the interests of his descendants. It may take several generations for his family to accumulate the wealth of today's aristocratic families, or perhaps never, because times have changed.

But no matter what, there is only so much food, and if others eat one more bite, he will eat one less bite. It's a very clear truth.

This is the main reason why he is unwilling to have any connection with big families like the Wei family.

Princess Liu was from the Xinxing Liu clan. She was a descendant of the Han Dynasty's Guanglu doctor and the granddaughter of Liu Yin, the Grand Tutor and Secretary of the Xiongnu. She had a well-educated family and a beautiful appearance, which was enough for him.

The Xinxing Liu family has been destroyed.

There was no one living in Xinxing for hundreds of miles, and all the ancestral property was lost in one day.

Most of Pingyang's property was confiscated, and the remaining was enough for the Liu family to barely get by. Their life was not even rich, just an ordinary well-off family.

Such a woman, who is talented, beautiful, famous, but has no family power, is the most suitable candidate for him.

After nightfall, the horns of the boat trackers on both sides of the Fen River continued all night long without stopping.

The ladder for the warrior group to rise appeared again.

In the past twenty years, there have been too many stories of penniless people entering high positions.

Opportunities don't come often, so grab them when they do.

At the beginning of winter, news came from the grassland again: Tuoba Heli sent troops to attack Shengle in the west, and Helan Aitou personally led the troops to repel them.

After two years of interference from external forces, the internal conflicts in Dai State finally evolved into the substantive stage.

(End of this chapter)