A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 901: The whole world is in turmoil, Bianliang is safe, the first military and civilian settlements in Weibao

Bianzhou, Chenliu, Ning'anwei

The newly appointed Xuanwu Army Jiedushi Bai Hui, with dozens of knights, led by Han Yu and Bai Juyi, rode slowly on the official road, inspecting the people on both sides of the road who were busy harvesting wheat.

"In all directions of the world, in the north there are the Hu people, Wei Bo, and Chengde; in Guanzhong there are eunuchs in power who amass wealth without limit; Bashu is isolated and is harassed by the Baman, Tubo, and refugees from Guanzhong;"

"Looking at Shandong, Zibo and Qingzhen are erratic; Jiangnan is burdened with heavy taxes and peasant uprisings are rising one after another. Only in Bianliang, the people are safe and prosperous. Isn't this the grace of the Bai family?"

Bai Hui said passionately, pointing at the farmers working in the fields.

Han Yu and Bai Juyi nodded repeatedly. Indeed, it was rare in the world today to have such a peaceful place as Bianliang.

In addition, the Bai family, who are in charge of this place, have light taxes and levies, and have a strong military force. The surrounding military towns are too busy making friends with them, so how can they send troops to invade?

As a result, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and with the benefits of the canal, commerce, agriculture, and the military were all given equal importance. How could the area not be prosperous?

It can be said that after the Bai family governed Bianliang for more than 40 years, the people there were the richest in the world.

Ever since Bai Jing led troops from Shandong to recapture Bianzhou, the Bai family has taken root here, changing their status from the Jiedushi of Henan to the Jiedushi of Xuanwu, maintaining peace in both Bianzhou and Song for decades.

Neither the Rebellion of the Four Kings nor the rebellion of Li Xilie in Huaixi disrupted the development of Bianliang.

"Indeed, the wealth of Bian Song is largely due to the Bai family."

Looking at the golden color on the roadside, Han Yu couldn't help but admire it.

It was precisely because of seeing the successful governance of the Bian Song area by Neo-Confucianism that Han Yu, Bai Juyi and other scholars who originally came from the Confucian classics decided to change their allegiance and embrace Neo-Confucianism.

Although Bai Hui was proud of his family's achievements in Bian Song, he knew that these achievements could not be achieved by family members alone.

"Such a rich place could not be created by the Bai family alone. Without the support of the people of Bian Song and the help of wise men like you, how could there be wheat fields and mulberry forests stretching for thousands of miles?"

"I have just arrived in Bian Song. Although I have listened to the advice of the elders in my clan, there are still many things that I still need you two gentlemen to teach me."

Seeing Bai Hui performing the etiquette of a disciple, the two of them quickly returned the greeting and said:
"We dare not ask you to be so generous. We will not let you down. We will do our best to assist you and ensure that Bian Song will not fall behind."

"Haha, that's great." Bai Hui stood up and smiled at the two of them warmly.

"Envoy, we have arrived at the Third Fort of Ning'anwei."

A knight rode up from the front and stopped quickly not far from Bai Hui. He sat upright on his horse and saluted to him.

After hearing this, Bai Hui immediately said to his attendants:

"Very good. Today we come to Sandaobao to see how the fort defense system is implemented. Please follow me into the fort."

After saying that, he whipped his horse whip and set off towards a gathering place that looked like a fortress not far away.

The Weibao system was first created by Bai Xian, based on Bai Niu's "Niu Gong Xin Shu", which combined the early Tang Dynasty's fubing system with the current recruitment system, taking the essence and removing the dross to form a new local military system.

As a member of the Bai family, Bai Xian knew that if he wanted to reform the system, he would first have to change the local economic structure to replace the original aristocratic manor economy.

Otherwise, the family's so-called establishment of a nominal monarch, reform of Neo-Confucianism, and new military system will all become empty talk.

Therefore, Bai Xian and the civil and military officials of Bianzhou came up with a brilliant plan. They followed the example of Weizhou Town and granted land to soldiers, creating a new class of rich peasants and weakening the power of the local aristocratic families.

It just so happened that the aristocratic families in Bianliang suffered a severe blow due to the previous Anshi Rebellion. The powerful families moved south, the people were scattered, and large tracts of unowned land were waiting to be reclaimed by others.

Thus, the Weibao system and the household registration system were formally formed.

Bai Xian first conducted a small-scale trial near Bianzhou, and the result was a great success.

It not only changed the local personnel structure and economic structure, allowing the Xuanwu Army to control the local area to the greatest extent, but also greatly boosted the morale of the Xuanwu Army and created a large number of rich peasants with the Xuanwu Army soldiers as the core.

The Xuanwu Army stipulated that all soldiers who joined the Xuanwu Army would be transformed into military households, and each person would be granted 100 acres of land. As the military rank increased, more land would be granted. The highest commander/dubingmashi was granted 500 acres of land, which was the military household land.

However, the families that accepted the missionary land had to send one person to serve in the army, and they had to meet the recruitment requirements.

If the household does not meet the recruitment requirements of the military government and no one serves in the Xuanwu Army, the 100 mu of official land will be reclaimed, and the household can apply to be changed back to a farmer household and be regranted 30 mu of farmer land.

The vacancies in the army would be filled by the military government recruiting new soldiers from the society.

Military and civilian household land may not be resold privately.

According to the fertility of farmland in Bianzhou, one hundred acres can easily support four or five families, so military households can recruit tenant farmers to replace the worry of having no labor force at home.

You can stay at home peacefully or practice martial arts in the army. Every time you go to war, the military will give you some rewards to boost morale. The income is enough for the family to be wealthy, so you don't have to worry about no one to cultivate the fields at home.

Military households only needed to pay a very small symbolic tax. The annual income from the land, plus the various rewards from the army, was enough to allow the military households to become small local landlords.

The soldiers produced from the military households were not only skilled in martial arts, but also loyal, with high morale and an unstoppable spirit.

The military households were settled together, with ten households having one household head and one hundred households having one hundred men. Generally, three hundred to one thousand households were set up in a fort with a fort chief.

There are three types of forts: large, medium and small. A small fort has 300 households, a medium fort has 500 households, and a large fort has 1,000 households.

Several forts were combined into one garrison, and each garrison had a garrison commander.

At that time, because the Xuanwu Army had only 10,000 people in Bianliang, there was only one Ning'an Guard, three large forts, six medium forts, and thirteen small forts.

The Sandabao that Bai Hui and others have just arrived at is a large fort in Chenliu, with a thousand military households.

In addition to military households and farmers, Bai Xian specially set up civilian households for landless urban residents and commercial households for people with assets to do business.

Military households and farmers paid land taxes, while civilian households and merchants paid head taxes, all of which were paid annually.

Thus, four types of household registration were formed in Bian Song: military, peasant, and merchant, each with its own duties.

The guard fort system corresponds to the military system in the army. Generally, one guard has one army, and the Ning'an Guard corresponds to the Xuanwu Army.

Weibao was only a local administrative system, which was only under military control and did not interfere with the village system. It was managed by the Grand Marshal's Office led by Bai Hui.

Bai Hui has several shogunate around her, including the Liangguogong Mansion, the Xuanwu Jiedu Mansion, and the Grand Marshal's Mansion, and each shogunate has an independent team of officials.

In addition, he was also the Bian Song Observation and Disposal Commissioner, and was able to supervise the Bianzhou and Songzhou Provincial Governor's Offices.

So Bai Hui was the local emperor of Bian Song.

The officials of all ranks from the three forts, who had long been informed that Bai Hui was coming to inspect, had already been waiting at the fort gate, respectfully awaiting the appointment of their new superior.

Arriving at the fort gate and looking at the settlement that looked like a fortress, Bai Hui was very satisfied.

He said to the chief of the Three Forts, Guo Zhanlong,
"Although Bian Song is relatively peaceful compared to other places, it is a time of chaos. We should pay attention to agriculture and sericulture, but we also need to pay attention to military defense. Don't wait until the enemy arrives in Bianzhou before thinking of building a wall."

"You are different from the people in the village. All the people in the fort are members of my Xuanwu Army. As long as you are safe, the soldiers can fight at the front with peace of mind. Your fort is doing a great job."

When Guo Zhanlong heard Bai Hui's praise, his face suddenly lit up with joy and he said excitedly:

"We have all been acting in full accordance with the instructions of the Grand Governor's Office. This is all thanks to the Grand Governor's Office."

He patted Guo Zhanlong on the shoulder to show encouragement. Although he was only twenty-one years old and Guo Zhanlong was already in his forties, there was a huge difference in their identities and no one else felt it was strange.

(End of this chapter)