Chapter 852: Differentiation

Chapter 852: Differentiation

Chapter 852: Differentiation (Part )

In late July, Censor Pei Xian, Secretary of the Honglu Temple Yu Mie, and some middle and lower-level officials of the Taichang arrived one after another.

When they arrived, a farce had just ended.

A small Xianbei tribe temporarily stationed near Gaoliu Ancient County northeast of Pingcheng heard that they had to give up their land, so they fled north in anger. As a result, they were intercepted by Puyang Mountain and Yijing Town, which were heading south from Dongmugen Mountain.

They were in a mess with their old, weak, women, children, cattle, sheep and tents, and were defeated by a sudden attack. More than a thousand people were killed and more than ten thousand were captured.

At this time, everyone knew the key to Gaoliu and Wuzhou.

If you want to escape north with your family, you generally have to go along the river. There are only a few routes, one each through Pingcheng, Gaoliu, and Wuzhou.

If they fled eastward, they would follow the Sanggan River and enter Dai County. However, Lady Wang's brother Wang Feng and the Wei family of Dai County might not let them pass.

If they fled westward, they would have to pass through Mayi, where there was a garrison of Kelan troops and it was also very close to Yanmen Pass. It was hard to say whether the local Wuhuan and Jin tyrants, who were accustomed to building forts, would help them.

In short, after this conversation, those who had ulterior motives temporarily suppressed their thoughts and decided to wait for another opportunity.

"I heard that there are many people who are secretly connected with Tuoba Yihuai." On July 28th, Shao Xun said as he looked at the herd of horses running freely in the distance.

Those were the newly transferred war horses of the Duan tribe of the Xianbei. Thousands of them were roaming on the flat ground, grazing on the grass leisurely. On the east bank of the Sanggan River, across the river, there were tracts of farmland. Some early-maturing varieties had already been harvested, and the mid- and late-maturing varieties were about to be harvested.

As for the late-ripening millet that is harvested in August, it is not available here and can only be found in the Yinshan area.

"Your Majesty is too hasty." Wei Xiong, who came from Dai County to take up the post of assistant prime minister, said: "The Wuhuan people may not run away, but the Xianbei people may not."

The Wuhuan people were indeed reluctant to do so.

They also graze, but farming is a very important source of income for them, even more than the income from grazing.

The Wuhuan nobles built strongholds and had a tendency to settle down. Would they be willing to give them up? No.

What's more, if they go to Suotou, they will be raised by a stepmother, and there may not be much land left for them to farm.

Their psychology is very tangled.

It is impossible for all the Xianbei people to run away, because some of them were farmers, but the proportion of nomadic people was higher than that of the Wuhuan people.

To put it bluntly, the area south of Pingcheng is not a purely nomadic area, but an area where the new party of Dai State gathers, where mixed farming and animal husbandry agriculture flourishes, and it is also the most important silk and linen producing area of ​​Dai State.

Putting aside other things, the group of Mayi tyrants who compiled the family tree in the first place could not have left.

The Mo family, who built the small city of Mo Hanbi, could not leave either.

"Winter is coming, don't worry." Shao Xun said, "But you are right. Not running away does not mean that they are loyal to the Jin Dynasty. It is possible that they are secretly in contact with Tuoba Yihuai. But so what? Helan Aitou invited Dai Gong to go north and meet him in Yinshan. Such arrogant people will be killed sooner or later."

"Even if we do nothing, once Helan Aitou comes, these tribes might turn against us."

"If Dai Gong just flatters and condones without doing anything else, then isn't this war fought in vain? Are you sick?"

"It's like training a horse. When you first put the reins on it, it will be restless and uncomfortable. But after a while, it will get used to it. If it doesn't obey, just beat it. This is not something that can be done overnight."

Wei Xiong was silent.

When talking about "Duke Dai", he is actually referring to King Liang himself.

You leave after the fight, without even leaving any garrison behind, and without any human presence. Are you here to do good things?
"Yesterday I received an order to select a thousand strong and brave warriors and send them to Pingcheng." Wei Xiong continued, "The Ji family sent 500 people, and the other nobles in Guangning and Dai counties sent a total of 2,000 people. The Wang family also selected 2,500 family soldiers and servants and sent them to Pingcheng. The nobles and tribes in Mayi and Yunzhong counties sent 4,000 warriors, and Dugu and Changsun each selected 1,000 brave soldiers. A total of 12,000 infantry and cavalry, and their families were moved to Pingcheng, and fields, houses, land, and pastures were distributed to form the four guards of Dai Gong's personal army. This matter--"

"I know about this." Shao Xun said, "Do it quickly, don't delay. Pingcheng has just been taken, and the leaders of the tribes are still a little afraid. Although it hurts, they will still agree. If we wait until next year, the scar will heal and the pain will be forgotten, and it will not be so satisfying."

"We're already urging them." Wei Xiong agreed.

Some things, if done at different times, will have very different results.

Now that we have brought the people over, after half a year of reorganization, people's hearts can be roughly at ease.

The selection of the leaders of the four guards of the imperial army must be carefully considered, and officers at all levels must be mainly from the Wang family's Wuhuan. In this way, these twelve thousand infantry and cavalry can be stationed near Pingcheng, farming and grazing, and Dai Gong will have some ability to protect himself.

Of course, everything depends on their means, especially Mrs. Wang’s brother Wang Feng.

While Shao and Wei were talking, they had already arrived at Xinping City.

The leader of the Pu tribe, Pu Gulu, had already seen the mighty army, so he went several miles out of the city to meet them on the left side of the road.

Shao Xun did not enter the city. He pointed his whip at the millet that had just been harvested not far away and asked, "How is the harvest?"

"The yield per mu is about one hu and two dou." Pu Gulu replied.

Shao Xun nodded and said, "A little less."

One dou and two dou is only a little over 1 jin, and the seed-to-harvest ratio is between 3:1 and 4:, which is very bleak.

"How many years have you been learning farming?" Shao Xun asked again.

"Three years."

"Where did you graze?"

"Hanshan has no old county."

"Instead of herding, how about farming and herding at the same time?"

"Much stronger."

"Where is the strength?"

Pu Gulu thought for a moment and said, "We can kill fewer animals in late autumn, because millet stalks can also be used to feed cattle and sheep. The weather here is mild, rivers run in all directions, there are many flat lands, and the grass grows well. We can harvest more hay in autumn."

"Do you want to go back to Shanwu?" Shao Xun asked.

Pugulü smiled bitterly and said, "Why should King Liang test me? If Aitou is willing to give me the pasture near Shengle, I will be willing to join him, but he can't give it to me, and his tribe is still moving south from Yixin Mountain. If he can conquer Shuofang and give me the pasture, I am willing to go, but I heard that Shi Le personally led an expedition to Shuofang this year and recruited several small tribes to surrender. I don't think he can give it to me either."

As the saying goes, the Yellow River brings a hundred harms but one benefit. The "Taiwan" here refers to the Hetao. To break it down further, there are three major plains: the Qiantao (Hohhot and Baotou) on the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains, the Houtao (Bayannur), and the Xitao (Yinchuan) on the eastern side of the Helan Mountains.

Helan Aitou currently only occupies the front area, while Shi Le is personally leading the expedition to the back area.

"After coming to Xinping, I realized that Shanwu is a remote and poor place, and I don't want to go back." Pu Gulu said.

Shao Xun smiled. This was half true and half false. Pu Gulü must have some opinions about him in his heart. If Tuoba Yihuai captured Pingcheng, proclaimed himself King of Dai, and guaranteed the interests of the Pu tribe, Pu Gulü would definitely not object.

But if he was asked to abandon the good fields and pastures near Xinping City and go to Shengle to join Helan Aitou, it would be difficult. Even if he agreed, the clan leaders under him might not agree.

This is a very complex psychology.

As long as the fig leaf of Wang's mother and son remained above his head, Pu Bu would never make up his mind to abandon his home and career and escape.

"You can harvest more grain from this land." Shao Xun led everyone down to the field and said, "This land has hardly been plowed. You have many horses, so why not use the horses to plow it? Even if it's just shallow plowing, the yield per mu will be low, but you can cultivate dozens more acres of land."

"I have never heard of this method of plowing with horses." Pugulü shook his head.

Shao Xun was helpless.

In fact, just like many things were invented in ancient China and then suddenly disappeared, and were reinvented in later generations, the key lies in the dissemination and promotion of knowledge.

If the invention cannot be disseminated and promoted, it will be lost in the dust of history. In the end, people in later generations can only admire it in museums.

They may be thinking that the ancients were really amazing, inventing so many things, but the reality is very cruel. Most inventions were short-lived and did not benefit the people or improve productivity. Even when such inventions were used in some places, people in more than 90% of the country did not know about them at all.

When the people who used this invention failed to persist due to various factors, this new thing disappeared.

Shao Xun felt that the Hu people might have used horse plowing, but it was not popularized, and the Pu tribe really did not understand it.

"Horse plowing uses a light plow and shallow tillage." Shao Xun said, "The farming season is often tight. Once you miss it, the harvest for the year is gone. When the farming season is tight, a horse can plow two or three acres for one acre of land plowed by an ox. If you can plant more crops, why worry about not getting rich?"

There are many kinds of horses, and Mongolian horses are not very suitable for farming.

A lower quality horse can plow the fields only 50% faster than a cow. A better one can be two or three times faster. If it is a specially bred and trained horse from a young age with all the right coordination measures, it can even be four or five times faster.

Medieval Europe also used oxen for plowing in the beginning, but because there were few people and a lot of land, they found that oxen were too slow and could not plow too much land during the farming season, so they replaced the front two of the six oxen pulling the plow (two in a row, three rows front and back, pulling heavy plowshares) with horses, which made the plow much faster - oxen were too lazy and walked slowly, while horses were fast, and replacing the leading ox with a horse could drive the four oxen behind to speed up.

After the Black Death, there were fewer people and more land, so horse plowing completely replaced ox plowing in most areas.

So what if the seed-to-harvest ratio is low? Plant more and harvest less, cultivate more land, and you will still make money.

Pu Gulu looked at Shao Xun with a mixture of surprise and confusion, and after a moment he said, "It's a pity that no one knows this method, and there are no farm tools."

"What if I send an official who is good at farming to help you?" Shao Xun asked, "There is no one in Dai, but there is no one in Jin?"

Pugulu remained silent for a long time.

"I don't know what's going on in your mind day after day!" Shao Xun said in a tone of disappointment.

After that, he looked at the clan leaders and local tyrants behind Pugulu and asked, "Pugulu doesn't want to harvest more food. Do you want to?"

Pu Gulu clenched his fists slightly.

The clan leaders looked at each other, and after a while, most of them remained silent, but they still communicated with each other through eye contact. It was obvious that they were attracted to each other, but they did not want to openly spoil the show for the sake of the face of the chief Pu Gulü.

But in such a large tribe, there are always people who have conflicts with Pugulü, or who are more filial, such as -

"Sir." A burly man stood up, looked at Pugulü, and said, "Whenever there is a disaster, the tribe can't support so many people. Some people rob and kill everywhere, and some people die; some let their people starve to death; some send sixty-year-olds to the mountains to fend for themselves. Who wants to live like this?"

If someone takes the lead, others will naturally follow.

After a while, when everyone was shocked, someone stood up and said, "More food means more lives. My son wants to divide the family, but I have always disagreed because my Putun clan does not have enough people. If we can save more lives and raise more cattle and sheep, we can divide the family. King Liang is Dai Gong's father-in-law, so why not ask him for help?"

"In the past, Yilu repeatedly asked Liu Kun to select officials for him and appointed many Han officials. Why can Liu Kun do it but the King of Liang can't?"

Shao Xun put his hands behind his back, looked into the distance, and whispered to Wei Xiong: "If we replace millet with millet, the yield per mu can be higher. After the autumn harvest, we can plant some winter vegetables such as turnips in the fields. In winter, it can be eaten not only by livestock but also by people. Once there is a snow disaster, it can save lives."

"Your Majesty," Wei Xiong also said in a low voice, "I really don't know if turnips can be grown in Xinping."

"We'll know once we give it a try." Shao Xun said, "If it works, it will benefit the people of Dai."

"The king's broad mind is truly admirable."

"Dai is a vassal state of the Jin Dynasty. As a general, I regard the people of Han and Hu as one family. How can I favor one over the other in matters that benefit the people?" Shao Xun said, "People are all made of flesh and blood. I have worked hard for the livelihood of the Xianbei people. How can the Xianbei people betray me?"

When these words came out, all the Pu tribe leaders who could understand Jin language looked at him in a daze.

Shao Xun laughed, walked up to those people, patted the shoulder of the person who had just spoken, and asked, "Do you want to carry me on your back?"

"No...I dare not." The man bowed quickly.

Shao Xun walked up to another person and asked, "Are you going to hurt me?"

"I dare not." The man also bowed.

"If I let your family harvest more food and raise more livestock, will you abandon me?" Shao Xun walked up to the third person and asked.

"If I were so cruel, God would hate me." The man answered immediately.

"Good man." Shao Xun punched him hard and said with a smile, "I brought some wine, let's drink together tonight."

The man grinned and said, "I will go into the mountains soon and hunt some game for the king."

Pugulu has calmed down.

Some people, when they stand there and talk to others, often hit the nail on the head. Their demeanor and bearing always impress people.

King Liang's style was straightforward, which was very much to the taste of the grassland men. And he could indeed bring benefits to everyone. With just a few words, he won the hearts of some clan leaders and created rifts within the tribe.

Can you really beat him?
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, stepped forward and said, "I ask the king to send an agricultural official."

Shao Xun turned around and looked at him, saying, "Agricultural officials are already in place."

Pu Gulu was startled.

"The Shanyu Protectorate has various departments, and there will be officials who are good at farming." Shao Xun said, "What do you think of the Shanyu Protectorate?"

"Okay..." Pu Gulu sighed.

(End of this chapter)