Chapter 857: Bai Dengtai

Chapter 857: Bai Dengtai

Chapter 857: Bai Dengtai (Part )
Before we knew it, it’s September.

The weather got cold early this year. It’s only the Double Ninth Festival, but there are already strong winds and all the grass has been broken.

The herdsmen flocked out, pulling their horse-drawn carts, and headed for the mountain valleys, searching for grass that had not yet been harvested.

They had all just moved here from various places. They were originally subjects of various tribes and powerful people, but now they had become the people of Yunzhong County, scattered inside and outside the city and in the surrounding areas.

Shanyu's Protector Wang Que'er left Pingcheng and rode eastward to Baidengtai together with the new Chief Clerk He Lun, Sima Sun He, Chief Clerk Li Ju, three military officers He Bao, Tao Bao, Liu Xia, three Zhonglang officers Pei Xian, Zhuge Xian, Zhi Xiong, Xicao Yuan Ji Zhen, Dongcao Yuan Cheng Xia, Recorder Xu Guang and other main staff members.

Wang Que'er was given the power to establish a government, but he was very submissive and asked Shao Xun to help him draw up a list.

Shao Xun was quite pleased and finalized part of the list, while letting Wang Que'er choose the rest herself to show his trust in her.

Among these people, Sun He was the commander of the right camp of Heilongjiang, with more than 4,000 people under his command, almost all of whom were new soldiers who had been recruited for a few months or a year. Recently, he recruited new soldiers in Henan and Hebei, making up a total of 6,000 people and stationed them in Gaoliu.

The Heiliang Right Camp was disbanded and renamed Gaoliu Town Army, with Sun He serving as the first town commander and Sima of Wang Que'er's shogunate.

He Lun originally led a part of the hereditary soldiers of Yanzhou and stationed them in Linqiu.

He has been trying to become a local official for several years, and this time he has finally achieved his wish by being appointed as the Chief of Shanyu Protectorate.

Li Ju had served as the prefect of Xingyang and Chenliu successively, and it was no longer appropriate for him to stay in those areas.

Moreover, he could not be promoted as he had no connections, no network, no political achievements, and a poor background. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be squeezed out one day and not even have an official position.

Shao Xun chose him to be the chief clerk of the Chanyu, which was equivalent to giving him another way out - you can't beat those people as an official in the Central Plains, so you might as well go to the border areas to accumulate merits.

Tao Bao, Zhi Xiong and Xu Guang are all from the Zhongyi Army and Xiejie Army systems, and are currently being reorganized into the Wu Zhou Zhen Army.

The department is also recruiting new people, but the progress is slow. The people in the Central Plains are not very willing to come. However, many Hu people in the Dai Kingdom come to inquire about enlistment, which is amazing.

The military officer He Bao was originally a minister of the Liu Han Dynasty. He was from the He clan of Runan, the same family that was exterminated by Shao Xun.

After investigation, they found that this person was an old scholar. No money was found when his house was searched, and he had not been caught doing any bad things, so they let him go.

Now it has been re-employed to spread culture in Dai State and is in charge of clerical work.

Ji Zhen, a clerk of Xicao, was the son of Ji Shou, the leader of the Silver Spear Army. He came from a martial arts school in Liang County and managed the fort for several years. He also served as the lieutenant of Xincheng County. He was appointed as a clerk of Xicao and was in charge of the inspection, recruitment, appointment and dismissal of low-level officials.

The shogunate's staff is not yet complete, and recruitment is still ongoing. However, many scholars are unwilling to come to Pingcheng, so there is nothing they can do about it - this is also one of the reasons why Wang Que'er asked Shao Xun to draw up a list. His prestige and face are not great enough, and many people will refuse his recruitment. By then, even the shogunate will not be able to be established, which would be too embarrassing.

After the group left the city, they felt a little chilly when the cold wind blew.

There were still a few lonely morning stars in the sky, and the ground was covered with heavy frost, creating a bleak scene.

Under the cold night sky, the only sounds were carriages, footsteps, and occasional conversations.

Hundreds of soldiers were guarding outside.

They were recruited by Wang Que'er from Xuzhou, a total of 500 people, to serve as the personal army directly under the command of the lord of the tent.

When they arrived at the fork in the road, the military officer He Bao stopped, bowed deeply to Wang Que'er, and said, "My Lord, I will leave now."

In a small manor not far away, the lights were on.

Wang Feng, the Prime Minister of Dai, had an audience with King Liang yesterday and stayed at the manor of a wealthy family with whom he was familiar. He had not gotten up yet, but the guards and servants were already busy.

Wang Que'er returned the salute and looked towards the manor.

Before he knew it, he was also called "Wang Gong". Now fewer and fewer people can still call him "Que Er".

He Bao said goodbye to several other colleagues one by one, then got on the carriage and drove to the manor.

Wang Que'er continued walking and said to He Lun casually, "It's true that He Changshi is concerned about government affairs, but he can't forget about farming."

When He Lun heard this, he immediately said, "Don't worry, the Protector General will never forget this. Last month, over a hundred hectares of land in Yinguan were planted with turnips, and Mo Hanbi also planted over ten hectares."

Wang Que'er paused for a moment and then continued forward.

He Lun was below him, and he was a little worried at first. After all, He Lun was too senior and came from a noble family in Donghai. He didn't expect that he was in such a positive position, which saved him a lot of trouble.

From He Lun's perspective, he had made enough money when he followed Sima Yue, and even had a lot of money. His family had bought a lot of land in Donghai, and in recent years they had bought two farms of local tyrants in Xiangcheng. Even if they measured the land, they couldn't measure it, so he was rich enough.

He now has only one thing to do, which is to follow King Liang closely and do all kinds of things for him. In this way, for the sake of old friendship and fellow villagers, the He family will surely continue to be honored and favored.

Go to Pingcheng to work? No problem!
It would be great to be able to play with a few Hu girls and try something new.

This is Lao He’s mentality. With this attitude, he will never go wrong.

"Where do the people who guide agricultural work come from?" Wang Que'er asked.

"Does Your Majesty know Pei Shiliu?" He Lun glanced at him quietly and asked.

"How could I not know!" Wang Que'er laughed, "When he was managing the manor, he saw that we were hungry and often gave us some cheese to eat. In the summer, when he went to Luoyang to sell fresh fruits, he let us share the unsold ones."

He Lun was shocked. He didn't expect that Pei Shiliu had accumulated so many favors.

He knew Wang Que'er, Jin Zheng, Hou Feihu and others when they were humble, and helped King Liang manage his earliest manor. He was also a guest who came with Concubine Pei's wedding. This kind of person should not be offended easily - not because one is afraid of him, but because there is no need and it will be very troublesome if offended.

"Pei Shiliu is in Yinguan, bringing a group of managers from the manor to teach people how to grow winter vegetables." He Lun said.

"Sent by the king?" Wang Que'er asked.

"Yes."

"Can he read?" "He can read and write, and he can count."

"Then we will set up a military farm department and appoint Pei Shiliu as the secretary." Wang Que'er said.

"Yes, sir." He Lun said happily.

He is the chief secretary, and he is in charge of this matter.

"What is Pei Shiliu's family background like?" Wang Que'er asked, as if she had thought of something.

"I have little family wealth." He Lun said.

"That's good." Wang Que'er felt relieved.

Nowadays, you can’t become an official without money, especially a civil servant.

It is easier to deal with military men, if they do not keep servants and personal soldiers, the expenses will not be too high, and they can be maintained completely and even have a surplus.

It is difficult to say about civil servants, because they have to support a large number of subordinates, which costs a lot.

Just like when Pei Shiliu brought a group of people to work, King Liang would not be responsible for those people's expenses. At most, he would provide them with meals, and the rest would all depend on Pei Shiliu paying for himself.

In exchange, you have to allow him to acquire property, otherwise no one will be willing to serve as an official for you.

Unless you bring all those subordinates into the bureaucracy, give them money, and raise the salaries of existing officials by a large margin, who would be willing to pay to be an official? Are you crazy?
But it is definitely impossible to support so many officials, because it is impossible to collect taxes, and the entire economy depends on donations from wealthy families.

This is also one of the reasons why King Liang only measured the land in the twenty counties of Liang State instead of expanding it.

Since Pei Shiliu has money, he can continue to do it.

The group continued to move forward, and when they saw Bai Dengtai from a distance, He Lun took two quick steps and said in a low voice: "My lord, the officials and generals of the East Sea will gather in a few days. I wonder -"

"Oh?" Wang Que'er smiled gently and said, "There are indeed many people from Donghai in this Shanyu Protectorate. Well, I haven't heard the local accent for a long time. It would be nice to meet some of my fellow countrymen."

He Lun was relieved, and then whispered: "There are also several officials of Yue Prefecture in the past, most of whom are from neighboring counties and states such as Pengcheng, Xiapi, and Peiguo."

Wang Que'er stopped.

He Lun thought something was wrong and stopped as well.

Wang Que'er glanced at He Lun with a half-smile and said, "I have to go to Dai County in a few days, so I'm afraid I won't be able to come."

There is Feihu Pass in Dai County. According to Shao Xun's plan, the counties of Jizhou would recruit young men to garrison in turn. When these people served, they were also under the jurisdiction of the Shanyu Protectorate. It was normal for Wang Que'er to go on an inspection tour.

"Then let's wait until the prince comes back." He Lun said stiffly.

Wang Que'er turned her head and quickly climbed the stairs.

He Lun sighed secretly, damn it.

Sima Sunhe and Chief Clerk Li Ju were about seven or eight steps away from them, so they tactfully slowed down their pace so as not to disturb their private conversation.

After seeing He Lun's bad face and Wang Duhu leaving quickly, he began to speculate in his heart. However, Baidengtai was already in front of him, so he suppressed his thoughts and climbed the stairs together and walked up.

The sky gradually became brighter.

Huang Zheng saw Wang Que'er from afar and immediately stepped forward to salute.

"Your servant is here to pay his respects to the king." Wang Que'er glanced at the empty equipment rack and said.

Master Shao lived a very regular life and liked to practice martial arts in the morning. In the past, at this time, he would have finished practicing with the spear and started practicing sword and shield, but there was no weapon on the equipment rack, obviously he had not yet gotten up.

"Let's eat first." Huang Zheng pulled everyone into a palace room, asked them to sit down, and then ordered his personal soldiers to serve the meal.

Finally, Huang Zheng and Wang Que'er stood outside the hall and talked in low voices.

"Your Majesty has not gotten up early to practice martial arts these past two days." Huang Zheng said softly.

Wang Que'er nodded slowly, looked around, and asked in a low voice: "But Madam Wang..."

Huang Zheng coughed and did not answer. He only said, "After breakfast, the king and his wife will inspect the military farms in Gaoliu Town. You must accompany them, measure the land clearly, and set up the boundary markers for the military farms."

This seems to be no answer, but it answers everything.

Wang Que'er understood, they had already spent the night together.

Alas, Master Shao is good in every way except that he likes to fall into his old habits.

The three princes also live in Baidengtai. What if the old story of Cao Mengde in Wancheng happens?

"There are a lot of new faces in the personal army." Wang Que'er suddenly asked.

"Now we have 2,000 men." Huang Zheng said, "We have recruited 500 warriors from Xingbei, most of whom are the sons and nephews of the leaders of various tribes. But they are stationed below the stage, and those on the mountain roads and the stage are still our own people."

"It's better to be careful." Wang Que'er sighed.

He knew that the Prince of Liang's personal army was a shortcut to promotion.

When the troops from Gaoliu, Wuzhou and Zhou arrive, King Liang will most likely send some of his personal soldiers to lead the troops, just like he sent his personal soldiers to the various units of the Huangtou Army back then.

"Let's go and have dinner." Huang Zheng urged when he saw the food being served.

(I'll do another chapter in the evening. Vote quickly if you have tickets.)
(End of this chapter)