The big man has a living father

Chapter 174 (Long Chapter) Huo Hai to Old San Francisco
In just a few days, the poem spread throughout Chang'an.

"Have you heard that Huo Zhanshi was building a new city on the grassland and learned that Huo Huqi had defeated the right wing of the Xiongnu. He was inspired and wrote a poem!"

"Oh? Huo Zhanshi hasn't written any poems in the past year. He didn't write any poems even when he won a battle. Only half of his poems were circulated when he went to war. How could he write a complete poem now?"

"Oh! After all, Huo Huqi is Huo Zhanshi's elder brother. Huo Zhanshi himself is low-key and doesn't write poems to praise himself, but he must praise his elder brother!"

Huo Hai wrote "Going Out to the Frontier".

[The bright moon in Qin is now closed,

The Long March people have not returned.

But so that Dragon City Fei will be there,
We will not allow the Hu horses to cross the Yinshan Mountains. 】

In fact, the first and second lines of this poem are realistic, very simple and easy to understand.

The only problem is the four characters of Longcheng Feijiang. It is generally believed that Feijiang refers to the Flying General Li Guang. In history, apart from Li Guang, only Lu Bu has this title, and no one else seems to have it.

The pronunciation of "Flying General of Longcheng" is very strange, because Longcheng was the court of the Xiongnu Chanyu, which was also the capital of the Xiongnu. Li Guang certainly had never been here.

However, preventing the Hu horses from crossing the Yinshan Mountains can indeed be considered as Li Guang's achievement.

Therefore, some people believe that Longcheng Flying General should be interpreted separately. Longcheng refers to Wei Qing who has set foot in Longcheng, and it seems that he is the only one who has done this in history, while Flying General refers to Li Guang.

The Flying Generals of Longcheng refers to the generals who were proficient in dealing with the Huns during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han.

Another group of people believe that the original text was written by Wang Changling about Li Guang. The reason why he wrote "Flying General of Dragon City" was because Wang Changling had never read history books and was fooled by others. Since Li Tang was a descendant of Li Guang, many people wrote poems to praise Li Guang. Wang Changling thought that Li Guang was the representative of the Han Dynasty's attack on the Huns, so he wrote it casually.

In fact, the possibility of the latter is almost zero.

Because Wang Changling entered the officialdom by taking the Boxue Hongci exam, and he took the exam twice, so there is no possibility that he just guessed the answer. The so-called Boxue Hongci exam tested poetry, fu, essays, classics, history, arrangements, and policies.

Simply put, Wang Changling was proficient in poetry and prose, very familiar with history, and also well-versed in war tactics and military books, so it was impossible for him not to know who Li Guang and Wei Qing were, so it should be the former.

However, when this poem was written by Huo Hai, its meaning changed again.

Of course, it is impossible for Huo Hai to use the four words [Dragon City Flying General] to refer to all the generals of this dynasty, so Dragon City Flying General is a literal reference.

And everyone knew immediately that what this sentence meant was "If Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were at Yumen Pass, the Xiongnu and Western Regions troops would never be able to enter the pass."

Ordinary people can read this poem fluently, but people in the court have to think about the hidden meaning when reading it.

The Huo family now has business all over the place, and the head family is in Dunhuang, so naturally people will come there soon.

Huo Qubing also received the poem soon.

Huo Qubing took the paper and read: "The bright moon of Qin is now closed... If only the flying general of Dragon City were here..."

All of Huo Qubing's subordinates have now learned simplified Chinese characters, which means that most of them are educated, so they have no problem reading a poem.

Gao Buzhi looked at Li Gan in the distance and was a little surprised: "Why did the second young master write a poem specifically to praise the general and Li Guang?"

Huo Qubing directly handed the poem to Gao Buzhi: "He is advising me to stop beating him."

"This poem clearly expresses the hope that the general or General Li Guang will come to guard this place and keep an eye on the right wing of the Xiongnu."

Gao doesn't know and doesn't understand.

As a Hun, Gao Bushi had long since surrendered to Huo Qubing. Now, following Huo Qubing's example and making meritorious contributions year after year, his status in the Han Dynasty was even higher than his original status in the Huns.

Of course, he was eager to prove himself by conquering the grassland.

Because no one else conquered the grassland, even the Huns were not capable of conquering it. Gao Bushi was a Huns, so Gao Bushi was not capable of conquering it either. It was only because Gao Bushi followed Huo Qubing that he became successful.

If Gao Buzhi and other Xiongnu generals had followed Huo Qubing to conquer the grassland.

That is, the stubborn anti-Han hostile elements on the grassland failed to recognize the situation and resisted stubbornly. For the future of the people of the Xiongnu tribes, Gao Buzhi and other knowledgeable Xiongnu people followed the will of heaven, distinguished right from wrong, loyalty from disgrace, and joined a wise leader, leading the grassland tribes into a new era.

There is a huge difference here.

Huo Qubing: "It's not that we won't fight anymore, but we can't fight now."

"Now if we continue to resupply and attack the Hundred Kingdoms in the Western Regions, we can easily wipe out the Hundred Kingdoms, but what will the history books say?"

"I, Huo Qubing, relied on the power of firearms to bully the weak and invade the Western Regions?"

"Writing that all the people in the Han Dynasty conquered the Western Regions for the sake of money, the development of the Western Regions company, and the stock price?"

Gao Buzhi seemed to understand: "So should we fight or not?"

Huo Qubing: "Don't you understand? Professionals should do professional things. This is telling me that Li Guang and the general are good at sowing discord and finding excuses. Let me wait for the general to be transferred, and then wait for the general to arrange people, and then find an opportunity to take action."

The reason is simple. The Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu have a mortal feud, so they have a reason to attack at any time. The Xiongnu controls the Western Regions. The Western Regions and the Han Dynasty have no direct hatred, so the Han Dynasty has no reason to attack the Western Regions directly.

The right wing of the Huns was made homeless, and now they are a little scared, so they dare not act. But after a long time, when the fear disappears, greed takes over their minds again, and they will hate.

They hated Huo Qubing for causing them to lose their right wing.

They control the Western Regions and will stir up trouble there.

The hundreds of countries in the Western Regions were under the control of the Huns, and their thinking was originally towards the Huns. Once the hatred among the Huns emerged, the countries in the Western Regions would definitely be in trouble.

In this way, there is a reason to send troops.

Although it's the same thing.

However, waiting for it to kick before hitting it and hitting it first when you know it is going to kick are two different things!

To outsiders, the former is what you deserve, while the latter is your initiative.

Outsiders don't know that he is clearly going to kick his ass.

It's that simple.

Gao Buzhi muttered: "Doesn't that mean that the right wing of the Xiongnu has been chased by us all the time? They have taken control of a large number of countries along the way, so we have a reason to follow them all the way..."

Huo Qubing kicked Gao Buzhi.

Can this be said?

Anyway, we have to fight the Huns. We can talk about other things later.

Over there, Li Gan also got the news and he was also thinking about a problem.

"If my father came to guard Yumen Pass, he would definitely be able to stabilize the situation. No matter how we fight in the front, the enemy will not be able to cross Yumen Pass."

After all, this is what Li Guang does, and it’s his specialty.

In this era, there has not yet appeared a general who is better at defending a city than him.

Perhaps Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were better at defending the city than him, but after all, they had never really defended it.

Li Gan: "But the problem is, it will take at least three to five months for my father to return from Dingxiang to Chang'an and come here again. What will we fight for then? Another half a year will have passed."

Huo Qubing passed by and said: "You are really rigid."

"Now that Mo Nan is in our hands, why did your father go back to Chang'an?"

"As long as His Majesty issues an order, your father will be here in ten days from Mo Nan."

"Even if he brings a large army, it will take less than a month for him to arrive."

"Even if he brought baggage with him, it would only take less than a month to take a boat from Huaishuo to Jincheng in Wuwei County, and then go to Wuwei, Zhangye and Dunhuang."

This Jincheng in Wuwei County is actually related to Huo Qubing.

In other words, the entire Wuwei, Jiuquan, Zhangye and Dunhuang are all related to Huo Qubing.

The names of these places are all derived from the achievements of Huo Qubing.

But Jincheng is really different.

Jincheng is where Huo Qubing passed by when he returned to Han territory for the first time after defeating King Xiutu in the spring two years ago. He dug up two lumps of gold nuggets in the soil, and they were natural gold bars of very high purity.

So after Huo Qubing passed away, a large number of people came here to dig for gold, and later it was called Jincheng.

This place was called Jincheng, but in history it took another forty years for this place to be recognized by the Han court and Jincheng County was established.

This place is Lanzhou in later generations.

Correspondingly, if you continue to go north downstream of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, there is a place now called Tongcheng. That place was named Tongcheng because of the story of Huo Qubing, who said that people who went to Jincheng to dig for gold went to the wrong place and dug up copper instead.

This copper city is the silver of later generations.

At present, the section from Jincheng to Huaishuo, that is, from Lanzhou to Baotou, is a rare area on the entire Yellow River that can be navigated over long distances. The military defense operations of the entire northern border of the Han Dynasty are actually faster than those in Guanzhong.

Li Gan was indeed brave, and Huo Qubing had no prejudice against him. He also thought that Li Gan was brave, so he liked to give him some advice.

But this guy is definitely not as smart as his father Li Guang, and he often can't think straight.

Li Gan suddenly realized: "Yes, there is no need to go back to Chang'an."

Huo Qubing said this, but he was also waiting for the court to make a decision.

If the imperial court needed it, Huo Qubing would not care about his reputation after his death. What's wrong with fighting the Xiongnu and the Western Regions? Just based on the century-old grudge between the Han and the Xiongnu, I can enter the Western Regions with justification.

Huo Hai had been here for two years, but he still didn't know what Huo Qubing's temper was like? That's why he wrote this poem to give him some good advice in advance.

This is really important, not just a matter of personal reputation.

It's a question of folk customs.

It is not just a saying that if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked.

The chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was the result of the chaos passed down from his Sima family.

If the General of Cavalry is not prudent and leads an unjust war, won't the generals from all directions follow his example in the future?

Over time, it became a trend for soldiers to go out and seize territory.

Things can be done, but they cannot be said.

Some people call this a self-righteous act, but you can also say that this is the bottom line. There must be a bottom line when doing things.

It's like a group of disaster victims, all starving, one person starves to death, and his things are taken away by another person.

And there is no bottom line. When a group of disaster victims were starving, one of them said, "You're going to starve to death anyway. I'll give you a brick to help you go peacefully. I'll take your things first."

That's a huge difference.

Soon, Huo Qubing received the imperial edict.

Liu Che quickly appointed Zhao Guo as the general manager of the Western Region Company, and Zhao Guo was already on his way north.

Huo Qubing was responsible for building a concrete road from Jincheng to Yumen Pass together with Zhao Guo.

At the same time, the decree began to restrict gold digging in Jincheng, stipulating that the gold in Jincheng belonged to the state. Once caught, the person would be sentenced to death.

In fact...there has never been any gold in Jincheng.

All along, this story... was made up by Liu Che.

If people didn't know there was gold in Jincheng, why would anyone go to the four counties of Wuwei to develop?
Now, there is real gold somewhere.

That is the Xiongnu Golden Mountain.

If you want to dig for gold, go ahead!
The country allows you to dig. The solid gold you dig out will belong to the Han people, and the gold sand will belong to you. Go quickly.

Having said that, when it really comes to practice, I wonder how many people will invent new tools to beat large pieces of gold into gold sand.

This is actually telling ordinary people that in addition to gold sand, there are also large pieces of gold. If you want to dig for gold, go ahead and do it.

Liu Che also felt that his decision was quite kind.

In the past, the story of the Golden City was spread privately. You didn't dig anything, but you helped the court dig up several copper mines. I set up the copper furnace here to make coins, and you worked really hard. Now the real gold is here, it is given to you by me, so hurry up and go.

Huo Qubing also received new news. While building the road here, Huo Qubing needed to lead his team to Jinshan again, build a city there, completely occupy Jinshan, and completely separate the right wing of the Xiongnu from the Western Regions.

This new city is called Jincheng.

When Huo Qubing saw the imperial edict, he was also confused. This place is called Jincheng, so what was the name of the Jincheng by the Yellow River before?
Liu Che's bold move was to name the old place Old San Francisco, or even simply change its name to San Francisco, and the new place Gold Mountain.

But then Liu Che thought about it and felt that if this place was called San Francisco, wouldn't it leave a handle for the story of the gold mine to be made up by him? So he decided to call it Old San Francisco and change it to another name later.

Liu Che also thought of naming the city after a nearby mountain. In the future, this place seems to be the center of the new four counties and the old Longxi. If the seat of government should be a state, it should be called Lanzhou.

But after thinking about it, Liu Che decided not to rush.

They just started building four counties the year before last, and now they are eager to create a new state. This is too hasty.

It’s better to call it Old San Francisco.

Now that we are going to start building the road, there is no need to hesitate.

Huo Qubing immediately dispatched people from the four counties to start building the roadbed.

Most of the people in the four counties were criminals who had been transferred here in the past two years, and serving as border guards was their punishment.

Huo Qubing also promised to give them money, so of course they were willing to do it. You know, in the previous two years, they did it even if they were asked to build four county towns without any money.

If I'm paid to work now, of course I can do it.

The four-seater project is just a matter of continuing to build on the existing road. It is relatively simple and will be completed quickly.

After the roadbed was compacted, the first people to arrive were not from the Western Region Company.

But it’s someone from Huo’s Bank.

The people from Huo’s Bank will be the first to open branches in the four counties.

Originally, the early resources of Huo’s Bank had already been allocated to Longxi, and the training of a new team in Longxi was in preparation for today.

Therefore, as soon as the order came down, the people from Chang'an were still on their way, but the people from Huo's Bank had already set out from the Longxi branch and arrived in the four counties.

At first, people from the four counties didn’t understand what the Huo Bank was.

After all, they left two years ago and didn't know about Chang'an's prosperity and development in the past two years, nor did they know about its economic boom in the past two years.

However, Huo's Bank showed its confidence on the first day of its opening.

Golden melons and silver winter melons were displayed in the store in front of so many people.

You know, among those who can come to the four counties now, except for a small number of people who come here to make a fortune, the vast majority are prisoners who are punished!

These people's eyes turn green when they see gold and silver!
Some people immediately wanted to steal the gold and silver and run away.

I had no money before and couldn’t escape. But if I could get the golden melon and the silver winter melon, wouldn’t I have money to run away and have a place to stay for the rest of my life?

Then, the brains of the two people who attacked turned into smashed watermelons and lay on the street.

The shopkeeper shook his sleeves and said, "Everyone, go out and ask around."

"The major shareholder of Huo's Bank is His Majesty the Emperor, and the second largest shareholder is Lord Huo Hai, the younger brother of Huo's second son Huo Piqi."

After saying this, the eyes of those who were originally filled with greed became much clearer.

The manager continued: "Our Huo's Bank has now spread all over the Hanzhou Prefecture. Do you think you can just take away the gold and silver melons and use them? No one in the world dares to take them. You have to have the life to rob and the life to spend. One shot from our firearms can turn a cow's head into a honeycomb. Who is not afraid of death and has a few heads to blow for me?"

After the manager finished speaking, everyone's eyes became as clear as those of college students.

The manager then put on a friendly smile and said, "However, this is for criminals. As long as you are not trying to rob money and are doing normal business, Huo's Bank will of course support you."

"The Huo's IOU issued by our Huo's Bank can be exchanged for copper coins anywhere in the Han Dynasty."

"Like in my hand..."

The more the manager talked, the more excited everyone became.

Now, they are trapped here, is it because someone doesn't allow them to leave?

They are not officials, and even if they are sentenced to imprisonment, they will not stay here for the rest of their lives.

In fact, if you have money, you can leave at any time.

However, the distance between each city here is very long. To go back to Guanzhong, one has to push a large cart with food and drinks several times the weight of a person to get to the next city. Otherwise, it is impossible for a single person to move across cities.

When you get to the next city, water is free, but food still costs money.

There is no grain produced here, all the grain is transported here.

Of course the grain transported by the court was distributed, but if you bought it yourself, the price would be shockingly high.

If you want to sell food, you have to prepare half a person's weight of copper coins before you set out.

Along the way you have to brave the wind and sun, pushing such heavy things, and finally you can get back to Longxi, and then go home from Longxi. Basically no one can do this.

But if it is Huo’s IOU, it’s different!

This thing is not heavy to carry around!

As long as you raise enough money, you can set off back home!
And according to the manager, they came here because a road was going to be built here.

Firstly, the workers who build roads have to be paid, and secondly, after the roads are built, traveling between cities will be five or six times faster!
Then it will be easy to go to Longxi!

In this way, I will have the chance to return to my hometown in my lifetime?

Many people became jealous.

Some people who were originally unwilling to contribute to the road construction also rushed to sign up to be road construction workers.

These people are all veteran construction workers who participated in the construction of the city. With a little training, they can do the road construction work.

The Western Region Company has plenty of money now, and is trying every means to exchange the money for roads, as bargaining chips for victory in the attack on the Western Region, and they are eager to get more people to build the roads.

For a while, the four counties of Wuwei were bustling with activity.

Building materials merchants from all over the country also came in droves. They wanted to obtain land from the court, open building materials factories, hire workers, and provide building materials for road construction.

There is really no gold in this place called Jincheng, and there is really no silver in this place called Baiyin.

But there are really a lot of mines that can be used to burn cement in these two places!

Huo Qubing had been staying at Yumen Pass at the beginning.

After staying for ten days or so, I had to return to Jincheng.

Because Huo Qubing got the news that Zhao Guo was coming soon. His arrival meant that the process of turning the dirt road into a concrete road was about to begin, and money would be officially distributed everywhere.

According to experience, once money is found, the economies of these places will take off.

Huo Qubing received the order to assist in the road construction, but he was not to be a supervisor. Liu Che meant for Huo Qubing to protect Zhao Guo to avoid personal safety problems for Zhao Guo, which would lead to project delays.

Moreover, Huo Qubing also received several other pieces of news.

Near Jincheng, to the south, there are a large number of Qiang people living in the mountains and on the grasslands.

Now, many Qiang tribes have also learned about the Han Dynasty’s plan to build roads.

They...want to be workers!

The leaders of several Qiang tribes are contractors, and they want to make money!

This has to start with Tianzhu Company.

The Qiang people lived not only south of Longxi and south of Wuwei, but also west of Chengdu.

Nowadays, all the Qiang people west of Chengdu have been incorporated!

Money can move people's hearts. Zhang Qian was good at socializing. Now that he had money, he used both kindness and force to directly conquer all the Qiang tribes west of Shu County.

Of course, those who were unwilling to accept the defeat were forever drowned in the Jinsha River and the Minjiang River. The Qiang leaders who were willing to work for the Han people were successfully transformed into wealthy people.

The living standards of ordinary Qiang people also skyrocketed.

Originally, the grain from Shu County could not be transported to Chang'an, but now it has a place to go.

Transport them to the plateau, train them as war horses, and prepare for the future.

In addition to horses, there were also firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, which were daily necessities that the Qiang people had difficulty obtaining in the past.

Even a little bit is so expensive.

Now that we have invested in Chengdu, we can get as much as you want.

Naturally, there were also businessmen among the Qiang people. Some of them took their things and went north to do business with the Qiang people in the north and make a lot of money.

Gradually, the Qiang people south of Jincheng in the north also got the news, and realized that their fellow tribesmen in the south had become Han citizens.

In the past, being a Han citizen meant becoming a slave, eating coarse food, and losing freedom.

Now, being a citizen of the Han Dynasty means endless money!
It’s true, in the eyes of the Qiang people, the policy of the entire four counties is nothing more than endless money, right?
What? Just move rocks, dig the ground, and lay something on the ground, and get paid a thousand dollars a month?
Was there any mistake? !

Normally no one gives us money, so when we are bored, we carry stones home every day!

After all, the Qiang people built their houses and walls by moving stones.

They don't use cars, they move things by hand, every day.

No one has ever paid me, and the amount of work I do is not much less than working on a construction site.

Isn't this just throwing money around?
The Qiang leaders' eyes turned green!

Therefore, the Qiang people, who had never interfered with the Han Dynasty and listened to neither the Huns nor the Han Dynasty, hid in the mountains and prepared to attack with their entire army as soon as the Han Dynasty and the Huns came, with the goal of being hired as laborers!

The Qiang leaders actually knew very well that population was their advantage.

Now I want to work for the Han people and get a Han hukou. I have several thousand laborers. Should I just subcontract the wages of several thousand laborers to me? I keep 200 per person and pay the rest, right?
Don't want to? I'll give you a discount. I, a Qiang worker, will be paid 200 yuan less than a Han worker, okay?

In this way, Qiang workers can earn seven or eight hundred coins a month, and tribal leaders with thousands of workers can get one million coins a month!

Why don’t they do it? Of course they do it!
Some radical factions even threatened: "If you don't accept our surrender and join the Han Dynasty, we will defeat you first, and then force you to accept our surrender and join the Han Dynasty."

This matter is actually related to Liu Che’s actions in previous years.

In the past few years, Liu Che had already set his sights on the Western Regions, but in order to control the Western Regions, he had to first deal with King Xiutu and King Hunxie, and second, he had to deal with the Qiang people.

Even though King Xiutu and King Hunxie were Xiongnu and suppressed the Qiang people, they actually had only a small population.

The Qiang people had a really large population. Emperor Wu of Han never went to count them, but he roughly calculated that the Qiang population was over one million!
However, these over one million Qiang people were distributed among 150 tribes.

If these tribes were forced to unite and form a large force, wouldn't that be another Xiongnu? The Xiongnu had only a population of one million.

Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han sent people to the Qiang tribe every day to explain the principles to them, the rules of the Han Dynasty, and so on... to put it bluntly, to instill their three views.

In fact, the Qiang people's living environment is the same as that of the Han people, so it is easier for them to accept these things.

In fact, many people among the Qiang people were willing to surrender.

Now that the money has been delivered, and it’s right in front of me, I have no choice but to invest.

That's why Huo Qubing went south in person.

You should know that the Qiang people have not come to the Hexi Corridor once in the past two years. They are very honest.

This time they came out on their own initiative, and if we don’t accept them, I’m afraid it will be in trouble.

You have to accept it even if you don’t accept it.

If it is not collected, there will be chaos.

Anyway, the person has already taken off all his clothes and is lying down. It's up to you to give him money or not. If you don't, the problem will escalate.

The question Huo Qubing needs to consider is... whether they will set up a honey trap.

If you don't jump, then you'll make money.

Huo Qubing hurried south, determined to solve this big problem.

The habits of the Qiang people and the Xiongnu people are exactly the same, the only difference is that the Qiang people do not have a common leader.

To put it simply, the Huns were a group of people who lived by following water and grass and were distributed in the south and north of the desert.

The Qiang people were a group of people who lived by following water and grass and were distributed south of the Hetao area and west of Shu County.

If they were not careful enough, the Qiang people could give birth to a great country like the Xiongnu.

Therefore, if the problem can be solved by spending money, of course we should talk about it.

Huo Qubing can fight, but he is not the only one who can fight; he knows how to fight, but he is not the only one who can fight, so he hurried south.

However, Huo Qubing never expected that when he arrived in Jincheng, he would hear an extraordinary piece of news.

"Zhanshi Huo and General Li Guang are coming by boat, and they are still thirty miles away from Jincheng!"

Huo Qubing thought he had heard it wrongly: "Huh?"

How is it possible? I came here from Dunhuang on a fast horse. Although the distance is far, I am a small group of people and it took me only a short time to get here.

How could Li Guang be approaching Jincheng at the same time?
Li Guang had to first take a boat from Dingxiang to Huaishuo. The boat from Huaishuo went upstream. Even if there was a sailboat, it would take a long time to reach Jincheng, right?

Not to mention that the new canvas sailboat has only been out for a short time, how many people can use it?
Huo Qubing was ready to take a rest: "Make me something quick to eat, and then prepare a good meal to welcome my second brother."

I just sat down, my butt hasn't even warmed up yet, the stewed meat noodles made by the cook have just been served, and I haven't eaten yet, but I got the news: "Huo Zhanshi is still ten miles away from Jincheng Ferry!"

Huo Qubing frowned: "Are you kidding? Didn't you just report that there are still thirty miles to go? It's only been less than an hour, less than two hours, how come there are still ten miles to go?"

The local headman of Jincheng who reported the news was also helpless: "The boat is surrounded by rolling white fog. It's hard not to see it. There are really only ten miles left!"

Huo Qubing stared: "Balling smoke? It's on fire?!!!"

----

Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)