Chinese New Year

Chapter 1419 Can't Tell

Grass clippings flew everywhere, and the sound of hooves echoed.

Its beautiful mane shimmered with golden light in the sunlight, and the powerful warhorse galloped across the swamp, splashing water everywhere with a majestic momentum.

"Third brother!" Before Shao Xu could speak, Crown Prince Shao Jin called out loudly.

A smile spread across Shao Xu's face. He quickly dismounted and stepped forward.

Shao Jin also dismounted and walked towards him.

Seeing the brothers' affectionate manner, the attendants on both sides had different expressions. However, judging from their expressions, the two lords had a very good relationship, so they all smiled and waited quietly.

The two brothers quickly held hands, laughing heartily, displaying great affection. After a long chat about their family ties, they finally separated.

"The soldiers under Third Brother's command are quite impressive," Shao Jin said with a smile, pointing to the soldiers who were setting up camp on the banks of the Yellow River in the distance.

After his northern tour, he had developed a considerable eye for judging the quality of an army.

The camp set up on the riverbank could probably only house three to five thousand people. As for the thousand or so people lined up outside, they were uniformly dressed, fully equipped, and their morale might not be very high, but it was passable.

He had taken note of this when his father had previously permitted the expansion of the Zhao Prince's Guard to five thousand men.

Overall, this force consisted mainly of the Xue clan's troops from Hedong, reportedly numbering between two and three thousand, forming the bulk of the new Zhao army. In addition, there were also the old Zhao royal guards, the remaining soldiers of the Left Flying Dragon Guard, and a small number of servants from the Pei, Xue, and Shen armies.

Of the five thousand men, no fewer than fifteen thousand were cavalry, and they were fully equipped with military uniforms and gear, which was quite impressive.

The training has been going on for almost a year now. At least in the Shuozhou area, the fighting strength of this Zhao Prince's army is quite impressive, especially the Xue family's troops who are experienced in combat.

"Sixth Brother, the two guards of the Eastern Palace are gleaming in armor and stand in neat formation. Are they not elite troops?" Shao Xu asked with a smile.

In front of Yuan Xi, Liu Da, and the others, Shao Jin didn't know what to say. He just smiled and asked, "Brother, how many days have you been in Dingxiang?"

“I came at the beginning of the month and just returned from Yulin County (now Tuoketuo Shierlian Township),” Shao Xu said.

"I've heard that the land near the reservoir in Yulin is sandy, which suggests that the people there are not making a good living?"

"Of the four counties in Dingxiang, the majority of the population is concentrated in Dingxiang and Shengle counties, while there are not many people in Yulin and Hebin."

How many people are there in total?

"More than 17200 households and more than 72600 people, most of whom are military households."

Shao Jin understood. The more than 70,000 people in Dingxiang were mostly migrants from other places, mainly military households, with the majority coming from Hongcheng Town.

Shuozhou does not have complete jurisdiction over these people; it has to be discussed with the Ministry of War.

"Now that you've come to Yingtian, you must find the soil and water here fertile and promising, right?" Shao Jin asked again.

"Sixth Brother, you must be careful in the future," Shao Xu said. "The four prefectures of Dingxiang, Wuyuan, Shuofang, and Hexi are all fertile lands and not lacking in water. If they are managed well, there will be no shortage of military provisions. However, there are two things to be aware of—"

Hearing this, Shao Jin was slightly moved. Even now, his third brother was still thinking of him.

“The first is the weather.” Shao Xu pointed to the continuous Yinshan Mountains in the north and said, “With these mountains, Dingxiang is much more humid, but these days the weather is getting colder and colder, and frosts sometimes fall. I think that Dingxiang, Wuyuan and other places should not rush to plant wheat, but should plant more millet and sorghum. Especially the latter, which the locals call ‘millet’, can be harvested in as little as eighty or ninety days. Although the yield per mu is not high, it is better than a complete crop failure.”

Dingxiang has fertile soil and abundant water resources, making it an excellent agricultural area capable of supporting a large population. However, due to its proximity to the Yinshan Mountains, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as the overall weather temperature drops.

Actually, farming in Dingxiang isn't a problem if it's cold. A late spring planting is fine; I can delay sowing because I have short-growing-season millet and sorghum, so it's not a big issue. The real trouble is when the weather is just starting to warm up, and then suddenly there's extreme weather, leading to reduced grain production.

That was what Shao Xu meant, and Shao Jin understood.

"Secondly, we must control the tribes behind the mountains and prevent them from causing trouble. If bandits frequently raid the land from the south, we will not be able to cultivate it properly. Over time, the people will be scattered, the military households will be in dire straits, and even the tribes that were originally submissive in front of the mountains may have their own disloyalties."

This statement is even more straightforward.

The front lines are actually not very suitable for developing agricultural production because of instability. Small-scale raids can be tolerated, but the destructive effect of large-scale plundering is too great.

"If Sixth Brother really wants to manage Shuozhou, I suggest he take a closer look at Hexi," Shao Xu said finally. "Hexi County is a bit further back, and there aren't many strong Hu tribes around it, so farming should be more peaceful. Once the grain reserves are full, they can be transported via the Yellow River to the Anbei Protectorate to provide food and clothing for the people, allowing the soldiers to defend the area with peace of mind."

"Yellow River water transport?" Shao Jin was taken aback.

"Sixth Brother, haven't you noticed?" Shao Xu pointed to the Yellow River in the distance and said, "From Mingsha to the riverbank, it's thousands of miles long. The Yellow River is wide and the current is calm, actually more suitable for water transport than the areas within Si and Yan. In the future, we could build a river port every so often, and fortify it. I've calculated that five or six forts would be enough. Alternatively, the prefectural governor's office could be responsible for water transport, and the court could appoint a special envoy. Didn't Father previously propose setting up a water transport institute in Daibei? We could also set up a water transport institute in Shuozhou and send someone to manage it. As for the timber needed for shipbuilding, the forests in Shuofang County are dense, so we can take it. If we can't bear to part with the timber from Shuofang, we can find a way in the territory of Chunyin. I've seen it; there are hundreds of years old trees everywhere there, covering the mountains and plains." The area within Chunyin is what later became known as Hasi Mountain. In the early and mid-Ming Dynasty, there were hardly any forests left in the entire Hetao region, and desertification was severe, so a lot of the large timber from Hasi Mountain was taken to build palaces or forts.

However, this worry did not exist at this time. During the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, the Houtao Plain (Fengzhou, present-day Bayannur) was densely forested, and the Tang people built ships there to transport troops. Before that, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei also used large logs from Helan Mountain and Fengzhou to build ships and transport grain down from Bogulü Town (Lingzhou). Each ship carried 1,500 hu (equivalent to more than 4,000 hu in the Wei and Jin dynasties), and two ships carried a load of grain down the river to provide grain to Woye Town, Wuchuan Town and other places. The matter of transporting grain by water in the Hetao region was overseen by Diao Yong, because he had fled back from the Southern Dynasties and was familiar with shipping. The Northern Wei did not think of this.

The Liang Dynasty was actually predominantly inhabited by northerners.

However, for various reasons, the whole country is very enthusiastic about shipping—even if they weren't enthusiastic before, over the years they have been "brainwashed" into being very enthusiastic about it by the bandits.

Shao Xu's idea of ​​transporting grain along the Yellow River was probably influenced by his father.

Shao Jin nodded repeatedly as she listened, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside her.

But he held back, and said with some sincerity, "Third brother, you've only been here a year, yet you've already come up with a strategy for governing Shuozhou. You're truly a man of great talent. If you could stay and help me, with brothers working together, what can't we accomplish?"

Shao Xu was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "Sixth Brother, we must part ways eventually."

“That’s too far…” Shao Jin said subconsciously, “The seven prefectures of Shuozhou can all be entrusted to you, brother.”

Shao Xu glanced at his younger brother, sensing a genuine warmth in his voice, and felt relieved. He shook his head, though, and smiled, "If you're so inclined, just look after Chunlang and Dou Niu. Chunlang is an honest man, single-minded in his work; he'll be a great help to you. Anything inconvenient for you to do, you can let him handle. Dou Niu has no ambition; besides trading and listening to music, he really doesn't care about anything else. You and I…we'll eventually have to part ways."

Shao Jin stared blankly at his elder brother.

He was actually a little confused about his true feelings, at least not at this moment. Perhaps, it wasn't necessary to try to figure it out too much; maintaining this subtle emotion was the best approach.

"Third brother, sixth brother..." Yuanzhen rode over on a magnificent warhorse, waving happily from the horse's back.

The palace guards instinctively tried to step forward to stop them, but Shao Jin stopped them.

Yuan Zhen snorted and glanced at the guards with displeasure, as if to say, "How could I possibly harm my brother?"

After dismounting, he bowed to his two elder brothers one by one and said, "I just saw the Murong Xianbei troops, a total of two thousand cavalry. They should have come from the grasslands north of Yinshan and stopped at Baidaochuan."

“They came to join us by imperial decree.” Shao Jin patted Yuan Zhen on the shoulder and said, “The Yuwen Xianbei also sent 1,500 cavalry, and they have already arrived in Wuyuan.”

The Murong Xianbei, Yuwen Xianbei, Fuyu, and Goguryeo mobilized a total of 4,500 infantry and cavalry, all of whom were carefully selected brave warriors.

I heard that the Liaodong Kingdom has also dispatched 1,000 cavalry and 500 infantry, who are still on their way and will probably arrive in Shuozhou in late July.

Over the next two months, the various tribes of Shuozhou selected two thousand cavalry, the tribes west of Beiyi Mountain sent one thousand soldiers, and the Di-Qiang and Bai-Xianbei tribes in Hengshan sent one thousand infantrymen, totaling ten thousand men.

This force of ten thousand men was fully equipped, and each soldier possessed some unique skills, making them far superior to ordinary soldiers. Most importantly, even the infantrymen could ride horses.

If nothing unexpected happens, these 10,000 men will be organized into an army and moved to Liangzhou for training and to get to know each other.

Tactically speaking, they were a detachment, not traveling with the main force. So their route of advance was easy to guess: the northern grasslands, the same route that Tuoba Yiyi took on his westward expedition.

The chaotic sound of horses' hooves echoed again along the banks of the Yellow River.

The three of them looked over and saw that the guards of the Prince of Zhao's mansion had led out a number of horses and started training.

They were practicing horsemanship. You could tell from their movements that these people didn't know how to ride before and were learning from scratch.

This kind of training certainly won't be very effective, but the goal wasn't to turn them into cavalrymen anyway; it was just to teach them how to ride horses. When encountering the enemy, the cavalry would go forward to fight, but when they encountered enemy fortresses or well-organized infantry formations that couldn't be easily attacked, it was these infantrymen on horseback who would be needed to deal with them.

"Yuanzhen, where is your Kingdom Army?" Shao Xu stepped forward, patted Yuanzhen's head, and asked with a smile.

"I'm still herding livestock in Liangcheng," Yuanzhen said somewhat dejectedly. "Father probably won't let me go on the western expedition."

“My third brother doesn’t want you to go on the western expedition either,” Shao Xu said. “You’re only sixteen. Spending more time with your father is more important than anything else.”

Yuan Zhen shook his head and remained silent, saying, "I will return to Luoyang in October, and perhaps I can ask my father for permission."

Shao Xu and Shao Jin both laughed.

The three brothers walked side by side, their silhouettes against the setting sun appearing so harmonious and intimate.

As the auxiliary troops arrived one after another, memorials were sent to Luoyang like snowflakes.

(End of this chapter)