Chapter 950 Burning the bridge across the river

Chapter 950 Burning the bridge across the river

Chapter 950 Burning the bridge across the river
Early the next morning, after breakfast, everyone could not leave because Shao Xun called them together to discuss the affairs of the military town.

Military towns were a characteristic of the Northern Dynasties.

That is, garrisons are set up at strategic locations on the border or inland areas, with varying numbers of personnel.

In theory, the imperial court would subsidize part of the food and wages of military garrisons, but in practice this was difficult to implement. Most of the work depended on the garrison commander to organize the garrison soldiers to open up wasteland and cultivate land, and the income was distributed according to a certain proportion.

The families of the soldiers lived next to the military town and had their own fields. They farmed and supported themselves, and their income had nothing to do with the military town and belonged entirely to themselves.

But this is only in theory. What about in reality? If the military garrison is short of food, they can't just watch their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons starve to death, right? So this is a muddled account. It can only be said that when there is no shortage of food, the families of the garrison soldiers are self-sufficient and support themselves. The garrison soldiers themselves eat the grain, meat, and milk harvested from farming and grazing, and the court occasionally gives them some money and silk rewards.

This system continued until the Tang Dynasty.

Taking the Hehuang area as an example, there were about twenty military towns (including military cities and garrison cities), including Lintao Army, Heyuan Army, Jishi Army, Momen Army, and Anren Army.

The largest of these was the Heyuan Army, which had 13,000 infantry and cavalry.

In the early days, the garrison troops of these military towns were recruited from the Central Plains to take turns on duty. Later, it was found to be too troublesome, the garrison troops were fed up and the economic pressure was great, so the recruitment of soldiers and the Long March warriors began to appear.

The imperial court seized every opportunity to conscript men from the inland areas to go to the border areas. For example, when there was a flood in Qingzhou one year, the court recruited strong refugees to serve as soldiers in Longyou and even the Western Regions.

His family was willing to follow and was given land.

Most of the immigrants to the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty were of this type, and there were not many decent civilians. The protagonist of "Bound to the Barbarians" was a young man who went to Anxi with his father and lived there.

In fact, this goes back to the characteristics of the Northern Wei military towns, that is, the soldiers gathered in the military city. If their families followed them, they would divide private land next to the military city and support themselves. If they did not follow them, the single soldiers would marry and have children locally.

Due to geographical and locational reasons, military towns will gradually become prosperous places. At the same time, in the long-term interactions, they will drive, vassalize, and assimilate some tribes. The famous general Bai Xiaode liked to play near the Tang military town when he was a child. When he grew up, he participated in the suppression of the rebellion and killed Liu Longxian, a brave general of the Anshi rebel army, in battle. Finally, he was promoted to Prince of Changhua and Prince's Tutor.

The Jin Dynasty also has military towns, all of which were created by Shao Xun——

The Minister Yang Man hung a map on the wall and said, "There are more than ten military towns in Hebei, including Shangbai, Luze, Wuqiang, and Yijing. Most of them were established during the Shengui period. They were just temporary measures at that time. Now three towns have been abolished."

"Su Qiu, the commander of Lukou, held his troops but refused to send them out. He was defeated and his people were assigned to the prefecture and county. Lukou was disbanded."

The inhabitants of Lukou Town were mainly Wuhuan people, and later it absorbed some remnants of the Xiongnu and Han people. At its peak, it had three to four thousand households.

When Hebei rebelled, the governor Su Qiu had an ambiguous relationship with the Hebei gentry. Although he did not rebel, he had ulterior motives.

Finally, the Su family was liquidated, some were killed, some were demoted to slaves, and thousands of their townspeople were dispersed to surrounding counties and registered as citizens.

"Su Zhongyi, the general of Huaihuang Town, was defeated, and most of his people were killed, wounded, or fled. So we're done."

"Lulong Town Commander Duan Wenyang was moved to Xuanhong Pond and the town was disbanded."

Su Zhongyi, the general of Huaihuang Town, suffered a defeat and suffered heavy losses. In the end, only many people were left, and his headquarters had moved to Dai State.

But Huaihuang, Lulong and Lukou are different. The former is a border area, while the latter is a key water and land hub in the hinterland.

Lukou Town can be established or not, but Huaihuang Town and Lulong Town will most likely be re-established. However, how to do it is very particular.

"The king's intention is to try not to set up military garrisons in the six states of Ji, Yan, Si, Yu, Xu, and Qing, but military garrisons can be set up in You, Bing, Yong, Qin and other places."

"Previously, most military garrisons were set up for the purpose of appeasement and were a temporary measure. They should now be disbanded. Those who are willing to relocate should be relocated, and those who are unwilling to relocate should be gradually disbanded and registered as civilians."

"It is necessary to establish many new military towns, and it is not appropriate to abolish or merge them. We can discuss this later."

After saying that, Yang Man sat back.

Shao Xun stood up, glanced at everyone, and said, "Everyone can express their opinions."

"Your Majesty, I think it would be better to do this after the founding of the country," Zhang Bin suggested.

"Why does Mengsun say that?" Shao Xun asked.

"When the country was founded, the distinction between the ruler and his subjects was determined." Zhang Bin said, "If they rebel when the garrison is dismissed, they will be considered traitors and will be easy to deal with."

Shao Xun hummed, then asked, "In the past, there was a tribe of Lushui Hu in Zhao County with more than 3,000 households. How is it now?"

Everyone looked at Pei Shao, the Right Army Commander of the General's Mansion.

Pei Shao stroked his beard, looking calm and indifferent, and said with a smile: "Last year, cattle and sheep in Desheng Township were plagued by an epidemic, and countless people died and were injured. The county and prefecture sent out millet and wheat relief. At that time, from the township head Juqu Chong to the township assistants, village heads, and security chiefs, dozens of people all went to the county to receive relief grain. The county magistrate asked questions one by one, and the village heads asked the most detailed questions, covering everything. In the end, he directly ordered the village heads to clear the ditches and open up more land after returning. The county distributed seeds and farm tools."

After saying this, he paused, smiled and said nothing.

Shao Xun looked unhappy.

Pei Shao met his gaze, smiled awkwardly, and hurriedly continued: "The township head Juqu Chong did not stop it. The village heads and village chiefs saw the majesty of the government and looked down on the township head even more. In this way, they gradually returned to their loyalty."

The Lushui Hu who were recruited in Beidi and Anding totaled 3,000 to 4,000 households, most of whom were settled in the Zhongqiu area of ​​Zhaojun, and were recruited and organized into a township, called Desheng Township. This was actually a pilot project, that is, a pilot project on how to organize the households of the tribes that were not dispersed.

The leader Juqu Chong was the village chief, and he himself served as the deputy governor in the Yicong Army.

Under them, the clan head is the village head, and the tribal warrior is the village chief, and the system is divided into layers.

Under the village head, there is a village assistant (appointed by the imperial court) to assist him in handling village affairs, and this has been the case for more than ten years.

Shao Xun once went to Desheng Township, which was still called "Mr. Chen" at that time. When he distributed rewards on the spot, everyone from the township head to others bowed to the ground, and the accompanying officials called out their names one by one.

This is actually a proofing.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties and before, rewards issued by the imperial court were generally given to tribal leaders, who would then distribute them among themselves.

They basically did not interfere in the internal affairs of the tribes. For example, during the Cao Wei period, the Huns were divided into five tribes, and each tribe had an official to monitor them. The tribes were in a state of autonomy, so there was no household registration system for the people.

Without registering all citizens, the process of assimilation will be very slow.

In addition, if the people are not registered, they are prone to rebellion, because the people are all private subjects of the chief. They know nothing about the outside world and are extremely ignorant. They will do whatever the chief says.

The chief lied, saying that the imperial court was going to kill us all, and that we should all rebel together. Most people really believed it, and those who didn't believe it were also coerced. Once you really rebel, there is no way out, you can only follow the chief's path to the end.

The more than 3,000 households of Juqu Chong were checked for household registration. Although they were all settled in one place and not dispersed, they were divided into very detailed areas, and court officials often went there to show their presence.

When Shao Xun distributed rewards, the ignorant herdsmen at the bottom of the tribe knew of his existence.

The officials were called out one by one to receive their rewards, and everyone, even the head of the village and the head of the police station, was respectful.

All of this was actually to establish the authority of the court in their hearts.

The current cattle and sheep epidemic and the county disaster relief are actually the same thing.

I heard that they are now starting to interfere in the criminal justice affairs of Desheng Township, which is to further strengthen the authority of the court.

The first time a tribal chief fails to withstand the pressure and gives in, it means that your authority has been damaged and your power has been eroded.

As time goes by, the clan leaders below will pay more and more attention to the authority of the court, and will become more and more aware that the subordinate relationship between them and the chief is no longer the clan head - the tribal leader, but the village head - the village head, and the latter is appointed by the court.

In this way, the tribe will gradually disintegrate and the assimilation process will be greatly accelerated.

The Later Han, Cao Wei, and Sima Jin dynasties simply moved the tribes inland. They used them when they needed help, but when they didn't, they wished they didn't exist and pretended that they didn't exist.

Relying on natural assimilation in this way is too slow and may even be interrupted.

Such negligence in government affairs handed a huge bomb to Shao Xun, which was obviously unable to be delayed any longer and was about to explode.

Fortunately, Shao Xun had the assimilation methods summed up by the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and even went a step further - many of other people's intentional or unintentional assimilation methods did not rise to the level of theory, but Shao Xun understood their essence very well, so he did not learn mechanically and was able to be more efficient.

"The incident in Desheng Township seems to be applicable to military towns." After Pei Shao finished speaking, Shao Xun said, "Under the town commander, there are officials such as the chief secretary and the military commander. In the past, the town commander would submit their names, and the court would approve and grant them seals. Now, we can grant officials after inspection, so that officials below the town commander will know that not everything can be decided by the town commander alone."

"This year, Lu Zezhen sent 4,000 cavalrymen to fight, which was quite hard. We will select a few meritorious people and have the General's Office and the Protector of the Barbarians' Office jointly send people to evaluate their merits, grant them official positions, transfer them and promote them, so that those nobles will know that there is more to the path of being a town commander than just one."

"Wuqiang Town didn't fight very hard. Didn't Hu Yanjian want his nephew to be the chief secretary? No. Let the chiefs know that the town commander can't do everything. There is a court above. If the court says no, then no. If the court says yes, then yes."

"These things should be done before the founding of the country to lay a solid foundation for the gradual dismantling of the inland military garrisons after the founding of the country." Shao Xun said: "Send orders to Jizhou, Youzhou, and Bingzhou to monitor the military garrisons in Hebei and report immediately if there is any unrest. If you can avoid killing people, try not to kill them, but if they are dissatisfied and dare to rebel, do not show mercy, because the government soldiers are in need of troops."

"Yes." Everyone responded in unison.

The stopgap measures taken in the past to quickly take over Jizhou and Youzhou must now be slowly changed.

If these Hu and Han commanders rebelled now, the imperial court would be able to deal with it much more easily, because the Xiongnu had already been destroyed and could no longer travel eastward from Bingzhou to support the rebellious commanders.

Is this called crossing a river and destroying the bridge? It seems so, but not entirely.

King Liang is kind after all.

If you are obedient, your family's wealth will not be a problem. This way of retreat will always exist.

Su Shuyan is a good example. Although his Wuhuan tribe was basically gone, he still enjoyed high-ranking official positions and generous salaries, and was also given a mansion in Bianliang, so he lived a life of wealth and luxury without worries.

The choice is entirely up to the town commanders themselves.

After discussing all this, it was not until noon that Shao Xun left his house and headed for the palace surrounded by his personal soldiers.

(End of this chapter)