People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 461: Planning for the Western Regions

December 16th, it snowed in the northwest some time ago, but that was more than ten days ago, and the snow has almost melted.

The sun hung in the sky, emitting a pale light, barely bringing a hint of warmth to the world.

Zhao Jun's convoy passed through the vast mountains. The mountain ridges on both sides of the official road were towering. Although there were many brown and yellow colors, they were still green and lush because there were many evergreen trees.

After coming out of Dasan Pass and walking northeast for more than ten kilometers, the view suddenly opens up and what you see is an endless plain.

This is the area of ​​Shennong Town, Weibin District, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province in later generations. There were some villages here during the Northern Song Dynasty. People came and went on the plain, and there was even a town at the exit of the official road.

Although from the perspective of distance, Chencang Road is the farthest road from Chang'an, the closest one is Ziwu Road, which was used to deliver lychees to Yang Guifei, also known as Litchi Road.

However, the Ziwu Road is the most difficult to travel on, as most of it is covered with cliffs. Therefore, since ancient times, people traveling between Guanzhong and Bashu have all taken the Chencang Road.

At this moment, in the small town called Dasan, there was already a large group of people waiting. Rows of horse-drawn carriages were standing by the road, and there were even a large group of soldiers stationed there, which caused a lot of discussion at the tea stalls at the entrance of the town.

"Those seem to be some officials. Why are they standing there?"

"What do you mean by an official? He is an official. You are really ignorant. Those are official uniforms."

"You say that as if you are very knowledgeable."

"Yes, in my opinion, they must be officials from our state government. Didn't you see that our county magistrate was standing behind them?"

Two local elderly people who liked to drink tea started chatting.

They are locals, and logically speaking, seeing so many people coming and going every day, they should be well-informed.

But apart from the tea stall waiters and restaurant waiters working in the town, no one would be so idle and bored as to squat at the town entrance and watch people every day.

The two old people also worked very hard on farm work in their early years. In their later years, their lives finally got better. They no longer had to worry about food and clothing, and their children also had land, so they lived a leisurely life.

Therefore, they had never seen any officials. For them, perhaps the highest official they had ever seen was the local magistrate, county magistrate, or county lieutenant of Baoji County.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Several foreign merchants nearby heard what they said and started laughing.

Hearing their laughter, the two old men turned their heads away. The old man who said he was a state official said unhappily, "What are you laughing at? Isn't it true?"

"Yes, but not from the state government."

A merchant smiled and pointed to the distance and said, "Look, the people in front of them are wearing light red robes. They are all high-ranking officials above the fourth rank. They are the leaders of our Qinfeng Road."

"A fourth-grade officer?"

The two old men were shocked. They never expected that so many fourth-rank officials would appear in this rural place.

And they were standing on the side of the road waiting, as if they were waiting for some important person.

This is just like the senior officials of a province standing on the roadside in later generations. It is indeed a surprising thing for the people of the province.

"We merchants have traveled far and wide and know some things. When the court was reorganized, the official uniforms were divided into six levels: the first rank was purple, the second rank was dark red, the third to fourth rank was light red, the fifth to sixth rank was blue, the seventh and eighth rank was green, and the ninth rank and those who were not in the upper class were light green."

The merchant continued, "Look, there are more than ten people wearing light red robes here. They are all the senior officials and deputy officials of the five departments of Qinfeng Road. Among them is a person wearing a dark red robe. He is a second-rank official."

"Oh my god, how come there is a second-rank official? Does our Qinfeng Road have a second-rank official?"

"Of course not. Don't you know that the Prime Minister Di who is currently stationed in Lingzhou, Liangzhou, and Suzhou is the Deputy Privy Councilor, a high-ranking official of the second rank?"

"Why is the Deputy Prime Minister here too? What are they doing? Are they welcoming someone?"

The two old men were terrified.

What day is today? Have the senior officials from Qinfeng Road come here for the meeting?
Moreover, there was a deputy privy councilor of the second rank, which was far beyond their understanding.

"Haha, who else but the Dean could be welcomed by Prime Minister Di in person? Don't you know? The Dean has come to Qinfeng Road!"

The merchant said with a smile.

During the Jingyou period, Zhao Jun used the movable type printing technology invented by Bi Sheng to change the copper movable type into lead movable type, and bought a printing factory, taking the lead in opening the Bianliang newspaper.

In the following years, newspapers were opened one after another in Bianliang and Hangzhou, the two most prosperous cities in the Song Dynasty.

The emergence of newspapers greatly enriched the daily lives of the people of the Song Dynasty, and also provided them with a lot of information and broadened their horizons.

For example, the imperial court actively promoted education and published advertisements in newspapers many times to tell the people the importance of reading and learning.

But newspapers are not available everywhere. Apart from the provincial capitals or important big cities, there are very few newspaper offices in ordinary county towns.

Therefore, for the people in rural areas, information is still very isolated. Even in Dasan Town, which is located on a major transportation route, there is still such an information barrier.

But it was different for the merchants who traveled all over the country. They had long known that Zhao Jun was traveling around the world. Even Zhao Jun’s itinerary had been published in newspapers in various places, so these merchants naturally knew about it.

When the local people learned that Zhao Jun had come, they immediately lost their composure. They were first very surprised, then delighted and started talking about it.

"This, this, this is actually the dean. The dean is here at Qinfeng Road."

“I came here two years ago.”

"That's different. The year before last, the director didn't come to Baoji at all. He didn't even go to Chang'an. He just went north along the river."

"That's true."

"We have to go see the Magistrate. If the Magistrate hadn't distributed the land to us, we wouldn't even be able to eat now."

"Let's go."

The area near the town entrance suddenly became empty, and many people rushed to the entrance of the official road.

Compared with Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Zhen, Zhao Jun's prestige among the people is actually higher than theirs, because Zhao Jun has traveled around the world twice.

Traveling around the world is not just about conducting research at the grassroots level, but also about understanding the situation of local people and solving their immediate problems.

The most direct way is to crack down on local corrupt officials, deal with local tyrants and evil gentry, and speak up for the local poor people.

They also seized land from these lawbreakers, turned it into government farmland, and rented it out to poor peasant tenants at low prices.

Like many local officials, they not only take bribes and commit crimes, but also collude with wealthy local gentry to oppress the people and exploit the villagers. They are worse than bandits and bullies.

But at the same time, these officials are all-powerful and do whatever they want in the local area. The people have no way to appeal and can only swallow their anger.

Things are different now that Zhao Jun is here.

No matter how high your official rank is, even if you are just a transport envoy, as long as the people file a complaint and investigation reveals that such a situation is indeed the case, you will be immediately arrested and thrown into prison.

Therefore, to some extent, no matter how many technologies Zhao Zhen invented or how many victories Fan Zhongyan won, they were all empty talk. Only by removing the mountains from the people's heads and distributing land to them were things that were practical.

Therefore, people in many places were looking forward to Zhao Jun's coming. Only when Zhao Jun came could they file a complaint, dare to file a complaint, and get benefits from it.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Jun insisted on traveling around the world every ten years.

At this moment, the news of Zhao Jun's coming spread quickly in the town. Before long, hundreds of townspeople heard the news and swarmed in, blocking the official road.

For this reason, Qinfeng Road Transport Commissioner Fan Xiang had to send soldiers to maintain order, otherwise the entire road would be impassable.

Soon, about half an hour later, a large convoy appeared on the official road in the distance, approaching slowly. Because there were too many people watching the excitement, the government had to block the road. At this moment, the people were all behind, and the Qinfeng Road officials headed by Di Qing and Fan Xiang went to meet the convoy.

"Your humble servant pays respect to the prefect."

The crowd chanted.

The team slowly stopped, Zhao Jun lifted the curtain, and the first person he saw was Di Qing, who was 42 years old this year, with a slightly weathered and dusty face.

Di Qing used to have a very white face and was very handsome, a bit like a young Louis Koo.

But now his face is very dark, a bit like Louis Koo after being tanned.

Seeing his expression, Zhao Jun laughed and said, "Han Chen, the Northwest is indeed a very trying place. You have only been here for two years, and it is already like this?"

Di Qing smiled and said, "It is true that the northwest is exposed to the wind and sun, but I think this is good too. I don't have to wear a mask anymore."

"Ah."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly, then looked at the huge crowd in the distance, slightly surprised and asked: "Why are there so many people?"

Fan Xiang explained: "The people in the town heard that the Magistrate had arrived, and they all came to see him."

"It's getting late, let's go to Baoji County first."

Zhao Jun then said to Jiang Dalang beside him: "It's the same as before. Take people to ask the local people. If there are any grievances, record them."

"Yes."

Jiang Dalang agreed and then led his men towards the people.

The local officials nearby were sweating profusely.

This is how Zhao Jun does things. Whenever he goes to a place, he encourages local people to file complaints.

As mentioned before, the people have the most say in the environment of a place.

The people know best whether local officials are fair and just, whether there are any false or wrongful cases, whether confessions have been obtained under torture, or whether there is collusion between officials and gentry.

And there is no need to worry about bold and unruly people making false accusations.

Because before doing anything, Zhao Jun would ask people to tell the people that there would be punishment for false accusations and there was no such thing as zero-cost frame-up.

After confirmation, Zhao Jun will order a thorough investigation.

The criminal methods used by ancient officials were not advanced, and many things were not difficult to find out.

If there is, there is, if there is not, there is not.

Therefore, many times Zhao Jun was able to quickly deal with local evil forces and their upper-level protectors, and solve the problem of poor ecological environment in the local officialdom.

He traveled around the country twice, and using this method, he killed hundreds of officials alone. More than two thousand officials were implicated but not killed, and the number of non-official accomplices added up to tens of thousands.

In the afternoon, near dusk, the convoy crossed the Weishui River and arrived at Baoji County on the other side of the river.

Just like before, Zhao Jun did not move into the local county government office, but lived in the local post house. The post house in the county town was not big and could not accommodate so many people, so the guards stayed in a nearby inn.

To some extent, Zhao Jun also boosted the local economy. He had to spend a lot of money on food, clothing, housing and transportation every time he went to a place. Although there was suspicion of wasting the national treasury, it was definitely a matter of more benefits than disadvantages.

After Zhao Jun stayed at the Baoji Posthouse, Di Qing, Fan Xiang, Yang Zheng, Song Shouxin and other senior officials from Qinfeng Road came to see him. Zhao Jun exchanged greetings with them, and seeing that it was getting late, he kept Di Qing to talk with him in detail.

The weather was not very good at night, with dark clouds covering the sun and it looked like it was going to rain or snow.

The cold wind was howling, and the inn took out charcoal. Zhao Jun and Di Qing sat in the inn, warming their cold hands on the charcoal fire while chatting.

"The Western Region Uighurs are divided into Gaochang Uighurs and Kucha Uighurs. Of these two branches, the Gaochang Uighurs are pro-Liao, while the Kucha Uighurs are pro-Liao and Song. It was the Kucha Uighurs who sent envoys to the Song Dynasty a few years ago."

Di Qing told Zhao Jun what he had learned: "Last year I sent someone to inform the Gaochang Uighur King to ask Gaochang to submit, but they sternly refused."

"What do the Kucha Uighurs say?"

Only then did Zhao Jun realize that it was actually the Kucha Uighurs who had been sending envoys to the Song Dynasty to offer tributes in previous years.

He had been thinking that the Western Region Uighurs had been paying tribute all year round. From the Tiansheng period to the fourth year of Jingyou, they had come five times in fourteen years.

After defeating the Western Xia and Liao kingdoms, they paid tribute every year. It seemed a bit immoral to send troops directly to destroy them. As a result, only a small group of them paid tribute, and the main force, the Gaochang Uighurs, had no intention of paying attention to the Song Dynasty at all.

"The Kucha Uighurs expressed their willingness to submit."

Di Qing said: "Even in their situation, they are also part of the Western Region Uighurs and have submitted to the King of Gaochang, so they have no way to directly express their intention to submit to the Song Dynasty."

"That's interesting. It seems that this Kucha Uighur should be a local governor of the Gaochang Uighurs, with a high degree of autonomy."

Zhao Jun smiled and then asked, "Have you investigated their situation?"

"Ah."

Di Qing said: "The exact number of people is unknown, but it should be 300,000 to 400,000. They also annexed the Ganzhou Uighurs that were defeated by the Western Xia that year, and their troops should be tens of thousands."

"With only 340,000 people and tens of thousands of troops, you dare to resist the Song Dynasty?"

Zhao Jun narrowed his eyes and said, "This Gaochang King is quite interesting. Doesn't he know that the former Gaochang King was confident when facing the Tang Dynasty, and then was destroyed by Hou Junji?"

Di Qing said: "The Uighurs do not compile history, so I think they probably don't know these things. Besides, the Central Plains dynasty is far away from them, so maybe that's the case."

"How is the business in the Hetao area going? How is the food and grass storage going?"

Zhao Jun asked.

He had had ideas about the Western Regions for a long time, but he had not taken any action for the time being because he had just conquered Western Xia and still needed to manage it.

Otherwise, it would be too much of a drain on national strength to mobilize food and grass from Chang'an in the rear to fight the Western Region Uighurs over 2000 kilometers away. Even the Tang Dynasty had to wait until it was at its peak and defeated the Turks before it began to seek to seize the Western Regions.

"There are now more than 400,000 people in Hetao, mainly engaged in farming and grazing. We tried to attract people from Guanzhong, but it is too far away."

Di Qing said helplessly: "Many people are unwilling to migrate even if they are given land. Besides, the population of Guanzhong has been recovering in recent years. It is too difficult to migrate people to further places."

"Well, there's no rush. The country has plenty of food now, and the population will grow very quickly. The main issue is transportation."

Zhao Jun thought for a moment, then said, "Starting next year, we will officially attack the Western Regions. When I return, I will order the transfer of food from all over the country to the northwest. Then you can move step by step, first station troops in Ganzhou and Shazhou, and then attack Xizhou."

"Yes!"

Di Qing agreed.

Zhao Jun raised his head and looked outside the door of the inn's hall. The door was open because charcoal might cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

I don't know when it started to drizzle outside the door, and the raindrops were floating in the air.

He said softly: "The Western Province Uighurs overestimated their own capabilities, so they deserve to perish. The Silk Road must be in our own hands to make people feel at ease. When the time comes, you must win the battle in one go, and you cannot protracted the war against a small Western Province."

"Yes!"

Di Qing nodded firmly and seriously, he knew what the dean meant.

(End of this chapter)