Chapter 1136 Come prepared
Chapter 1136 Come prepared
On the post road, batch after batch of war horses galloped southward.
When the smoke and dust were so thick, it made people think there was a sandstorm.
The wind started to blow, the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, and several dusty figures emerged.
"These are horses that were requisitioned," Pan Dan said. "They must have been prepared for the attack on Cheng, but I don't know whether they were sent to Hanzhong or Badong."
"This is the second batch." Dao Hua looked at it and said, "It should be the Duan tribe Xianbei, coming from Peking. I heard that thousands of horses were transferred from Jingsai, Juyong and other towns in early October. People there cannot be moved, but horses can be mobilized. I don't know how many horses will die if they go to Shuzhong, and how many will not come back."
This is the northwest of Gu'an County in Fanyang County, a county sandwiched between the Zu, Lu, Zhang, Liu and other aristocratic families. To the west is the mountain, and on the other side of the mountain is Guangchang County in Dai County.
The main fief of King Yan was in Gu'an, and parts of Fanyang, Zhuo and Guangchang were also taken over.
Most of the fiefdom is plains, and about one-third is mountain pasture. The population of the fiefdom definitely does not reach 10,000 households, and there are both Hu and Han people.
Before Shao Yu came to Youzhou, he could only collect rent and taxes from 3,000 households, which was very pitiful. Shao Xun did not help him and just watched him deal with it.
In the end, Wang Yan sent people to plead for Xiang privately, and several big families gave him face.
Shao Yu went up the mountain himself and "persuaded" the group of mixed Hu people in the northwest of Gu'an to pay taxes. Fortunately, this group of mixed Hu people migrated here during the flood period, and their internal situation was very complicated. There were the high-nosed and deep-eyed Western Dingling people, the Daijun Jie people, the Youzhou Xiongnu, as well as the Wuhuan and Xianbei. These people gradually lived together and had a tendency to slowly merge into a tribe.
By now, the Prince of Yan had only more than 7,000 households in his fiefdom. He did not care how much money he collected, as he gave most of it away as rewards. He never carried any money with him, and when he went out to buy a Hu Bing, he had to get the officials in the palace to pay for it.
The group walked and looked around, and soon arrived outside a village.
The people in the village saw from afar seven or eight hundred fully armed soldiers coming, and they immediately beat drums to gather the troops. A moment later, more than two thousand people had formed a formation outside the village. Dozens of riders rode forward, and when they saw that it was Shao Yu, they immediately dismounted and bowed.
"Tie Fu, where is your father?" Shao Yu also dismounted, helped a young Hu man up, and asked.
His name was "Tiefu", and this young man was obviously of mixed race, with his father being a Hun and his mother being a Xianbei.
"He went to Gaoyang to sell horses." the young man replied.
Other leaders of the mixed group also followed, being very respectful.
Things are different now. After building the stockade, they dug canals and began to try to grow millet and wheat. It is really hard to run now. Moreover, these people originally lived together in groups, and their hearts were not very united. It was better to respect the nobles of the Daliang Dynasty.
"Sell it to the government soldiers?" Shao Yu asked.
"I heard so." The young man said, "My father said that the soldiers of the Right Flying Dragon Guard had fought too few battles and would definitely be conscripted in the next two years. He was right. They left at the end of September. At that time, they wanted to take all the donkeys, horses and mules in the county with them. After the news came, my father said that they could sell the horses for a good price."
"Your father is really smart." Shao Yu said with a smile.
As far as he knew, 3,600 soldiers of the Right Flying Dragon Guard were recruited. As a force characterized by rapid and violent advances, each soldier and his subordinates had to bring at least three draft animals on the road, and four if they had more space.
I really don't know if the Right Flying Dragon Guard will eventually become infantry as the fighting goes on. Raising draft animals is too expensive.
In addition to the government troops, about 15,000 infantry and cavalry were also recruited from Jizhou's Wuqiang, Yijing, Puyangshan and other military towns. They set out earlier, in mid-September, but now no one knows where they are.
The mobilization drive of the Daliang Dynasty remained as strong as ever.
By conscripting here and mobilizing there, tens of thousands of people could be gathered easily. They all had good combat experience and their weapons and equipment were also decent, so they were not a mob.
However, this also illustrates a problem: in addition to the military power controlled by the imperial court, private armed forces are also very powerful. They are helpful when conquering the world, but after the world is pacified, the imperial court will become more and more dissatisfied with them.
There are so many military towns in Hebei. My father was not so willing to set them up in the first place. It seemed a bit like a compromise.
After the unification of the nine provinces, Shao Yu always felt that his father would start with the military garrisons in Hebei. Not necessarily all of them, but at least more than half of them would not be preserved.
"Have you been reading recently?" Shao Yu pointed at the village and said, "I heard that Yecheng Bookstore sent you a primer and a rhyme book. How are they going?"
When the young man heard about reading, he was actually a little scared and said, "The county sent a martial arts student here. When he was teaching reading, there were three or five people listening, and when he was teaching martial arts, there were dozens of people learning."
Shao Yu was stunned and cursed: "Don't you know what's good for you? As far as I know, that martial arts student will only teach you for one year, and then he will go back to the county to work as a minor official. If you want to study again, you can either find a way to enter the county school or wait. Maybe one day you'll be lucky enough to get another martial arts student."
The young man was startled and stammered, "I thought it had always been there."
Shao Yu waved his hand, told him to go away, and didn't want to say anything more.
My father has always wanted to "teach Chinese customs" to these Hu tribes. After so many years of implementation, it seems that the effect is better only in the counties of Bingzhou. At least the Hu people in Pingyang, Shangdang, Xihe and Taiyuan counties have been slowly tamed, and the county and county schools are also full of the sons of chiefs.
After they gradually changed, the tribal people combined farming and animal husbandry, and gradually began to become half Hu and half Han. After another few decades, these counties will slowly stabilize.
However, Youzhou is still full of Hu culture and has not changed much.
Thinking that he still had the title of "Youzhou Envoy", it seemed that he could spend more time interviewing more about Youzhou's culture and education.
I heard that my elder brother had personally escorted a batch of books from Yecheng to Jizhou and Youzhou, distributing them along the way to urge the counties to run schools. I think this matter must be very important. Thinking about it, Shao Yu played a gun flower, then threw the weapon to the guard, and felt that it was time to write a memorial to his old father.
******
On the third day of the winter month, Shao Yu returned to Ji County. Upon hearing that Governor Yang Chen had summoned him, he immediately changed into official uniform and went to the Governor's Mansion to pay a visit.
Yang Chen's eyes were half-closed, as if he couldn't wake up no matter what.
Recalling the time when we conquered Cao Yi in Qingzhou, Yang Chen was still the commander of a large army with calm command and strict orders. I didn’t expect that he would become like this now. Time is merciless.
"Your Highness is here." Yang Chen opened his eyes, smiled at Shao Yu, and said, "Please sit down."
Shao Yu bowed and sat down.
Yang Chen also sat up straight and said, "I have been in charge of Youzhou for some time. I am a little ashamed to say that many things were done with the help of my subordinates and the elders of various counties, but I did not take care of much."
"Your Majesty asked me to come to Youzhou because he wanted to calm down the situation and guard the gates tightly, not because he wanted to make any progress. Your Highness is under my command, and you have no way to display your abilities. I'm sure you feel very frustrated, right?"
"Mr. Yang, you are too kind." Shao Yu quickly stood up and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty wants to make things happen in Western Shu, so you naturally don't want to cause trouble in the east. Mr. Yang's strategy of using calm to control movement is indeed a good one."
"It's a good saying to use stillness to control movement." Yang Chen chuckled and asked, "I heard that you went to several counties in Fanyang for a tour. How was it?"
"According to the people and elders, life is much better now than when Youzhou rose up in rebellion and returned to the right path," Shao Yu said. "The Hu people are half herding and half farming, and the grain production is increasing day by day. They have gradually settled down."
"Many of the officials below the garrison commanders have moved to other counties and prefectures. In the beginning, the garrison commanders tried to keep them, but things have improved over the past decade. The garrison commanders, Sima, Yuan, Shi, Lu Shi and other officials are not from the same clan as the garrison commanders, and they gradually realize that they are officials of the Liang Dynasty. If this continues, we can slowly try to replace the garrison commanders."
"Only culture and education are at a disadvantage, but I don't know if the court has any good solutions."
Yang Chen nodded repeatedly and praised: "I knew you were brave, but I didn't know you were so careful. If you gain more experience, you will be able to go out to the town sooner or later. I have reserved this position for you."
"Mr. Yang, you are too kind." Shao Yu said with a smile.
It was inevitable for the royal family to leave the city, because it was more dangerous for outsiders to leave the city. But would the emperor let him leave the city? That was not certain.
In fact, he was also very curious. The age and qualifications of the current kings were not yet at the level of being able to govern a region. To be honest, the so-called royal officials were just petty operatives, and could not be considered as managing power. At least one had to be a powerful official like the governor of Youzhou, Bingzhou, or Jingzhou to get a glimpse of power.
If possible, he would rather stay in Youzhou for a long time, because he really wanted to attack Liucheng and march to Goguryeo.
This is what a man should do.
Yang Chen talked about some trivial things for a while, and finally got to the point. He said, "Now there is a difficult matter. Yuwen clan just reported that his troops captured the envoys of Murong clan in the country. This is not a big deal, but Murong clan did not send only one group of envoys, but three groups. According to Yuwen clan's interrogation, the first group of envoys has entered Dai State and someone has met them. They are the second group."
"Why did the envoy come?" Shao Yu asked.
"Murong wants to marry her daughter to Duke Dai as his principal wife." Yang Chen said.
"This is an attempt to instigate a rebellion against the Dai Kingdom!" Shao Yu was surprised and said, "What a good plan."
"It is indeed a good plan." Yang Chen nodded and said, "Dai Gong is twelve years old this year, right?"
"Exactly."
"She will be thirteen next year. It's a little early according to grassland customs, but it's not a bad idea. There are precedents to follow." Yang Chen said, "Although these grassland tribes fight each other and are enemies, sometimes they marry each other's daughters to ease the situation. Tuoba Yulu married his daughter to Yuwen Qiu Buqin, and Murong Wei wanted to marry his daughter to Tuoba Shiyijian. It's really common."
"What I am worried about is that the Murong envoy has already arrived in Pingcheng. He may not have made a public appearance yet, but he has already established contact with many tribes. Once this matter spreads, Dai will inevitably be in turmoil. Dai Gong is not without supporters. After all, he is the Chanyu in name and in reality."
"The Murong clan's move was well-prepared, and they intended to disrupt the people of Dai and even attack each other. In this way, they can focus on attacking the Twelve Yuwen Tribes, and no longer have to worry about the Tuoba clan sending troops to help. Your Highness has had many contacts with the Yuwen clan, so you must know the importance of this matter."
After saying so much in one breath, Yang Chen seemed a little tired and half closed his eyes.
Shao Yu did not look down on him.
Yang Chen was already very old and had little energy, so he handed over all the daily chores to his subordinates. However, at the critical moment, he was still able to keenly smell something unusual and intervene.
This is enough.
"Your Majesty is about to conquer Shu, and the army may have already gathered. Nothing can happen in the north." Shao Yu said.
Yang Chen nodded gently and said, "Get ready for battle. This winter is destined to be restless, and neither will I. Sigh."
After saying this, Yang Chen called an assistant and asked him to start drafting the memorial.
After finishing writing, Yang Chen checked it and showed it to Shao Yu. After confirming that it was correct, he asked someone to send it to Luoyang.
(End of this chapter)