Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 836 Zhao Qi's Three Axes
Sun Haohan, the former right supervisor of the "Lin'an Huiziwu", arrived in Liangshan Prefecture in early February.

He was from the faction of Li Duhuan, the former official of the Eastern Palace and the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Now that the emperor was in power, he got a lucrative job as the Supervisor of the Mint in Liangshan Prefecture of the Song Dynasty.

He also had an important mission when he came here: to transform the gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture from privately owned to government-owned.

Yang Yuan allowed the local clans and tribes of the twelve counties of Liangshan Prefecture and the seven barbarians of Wumeng to participate, which was to share the benefits of the country with the ignorant and barbaric people.

This was Yang Yuan's way of buying off the barbarian tribes in Wumeng and Liangshan states for his own selfish reasons.

In particular, 20% of the profits directly from the output of the gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture were allocated to support the officers and soldiers who garrisoned the Green Water City of Liangshan Prefecture and protected the mines.

Isn't this raising a private army?

The military pay of the court officers and soldiers should naturally be registered and reported to the Ministry of War, and then audited by the Ministry of Revenue.

Finally, the imperial court allocated funds and distributed military pay.

Yang Yuan's actions clearly showed that he was trying to win over the local natives and raise private soldiers for his own use.

They did not take into account the specific local conditions and underestimated the power of the local indigenous people.

The three barbarians of Xuzhou once caused great trouble, but when the imperial army arrived, they were immediately killed in a crushing defeat.
The three barbarians of Xuzhou were so frightened by the imperial officers and soldiers that they cut off their own heads and took the head to the imperial court to plead guilty.

Therefore, is it necessary to win over these wild monkeys who hide in the forest and let them share so much profit from the gold and copper mines in Green Water City every year?
Therefore, Sun Haohan came here with three missions.

The first was to take over the Liangshan Prefecture Mint and control the copper coins that flowed into Sichuan.

Because Sichuan and Xia began to use copper coins, this has affected the interests of many Jiangnan officials and gentry who had previously taken advantage of the disadvantages of the exclusive use of iron coins in the Sichuan and Xia regions.

The second was to change the development of the gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture into a government-run one, and to expel all the local natives who were dependent on the imperial gold mines and sucking blood from them.

The third was to gather the officers and soldiers stationed in the mountains guarding the gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture, compile them into a register, and verify their pay.

In the future, the imperial court would allocate salaries to these soldiers guarding the mines so that they would completely distance themselves from the production of gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture.

On the way here, Sun Haohan was still feeling a little uneasy.

Because from what he had heard, these barbarians in the mountains were still very ferocious.

Xuzhou magistrate Ke Baiquan was once besieged by the three barbarians of Xuzhou for a hundred days. In the end, he was beheaded by Yang Yuan on the grounds that he knew about the situation but did not report it, and watched it happen, leading to serious consequences.

Supervisor Sun saw "Ke Baiquan" when he passed by Xuzhou City.

The lower jaw had fallen off, leaving only the skull still tied to the high pole with a rope passing through the eye sockets.

I don’t know which one of the four ghosts is Lao Ke.

Supervisor Sun sighed and ordered people to take down the four white skulls. He built a tomb in a picturesque place with green hills and clear waters, erected a monument, and engraved the names of Ke Zhizhou and the three evil heads of the Xuzhou Three Barbarians on it.

To deal with the aftermath of Ke Zhizhou was also one of his tasks on this trip.

Zhao Kai's "restoration of order" is beginning to show signs of improvement.

……

Ezhou, Bai Lu Ji.

Thousands of troops have just arrived.

If they were merchants, with so many people, there would be more than the large groups of foreign merchants traveling along the Silk Road.

But if you look closely, you can see that they are not businessmen.

Among the thousands of people, 30% were officers and soldiers, and the other 70% were craftsmen.

You can tell from the way they are dressed, the calluses on their hands, and even the mottled faces of some people who were bruised by iron sparks.

Among them, many seem to be blacksmiths.

"All right, let's rest here for half a day and wait for the official ship to arrive before setting off again. We will go in two ships."

The captain of the escort gave a lazily order and was then escorted by the soldiers who had arrived at the dock earlier to a large restaurant with a fluttering wine flag.

This is the most imposing restaurant on this pier.

The craftsmen were left at the dock, and the manager called the people who came to the dock to make snacks, and told each of them to give them a steamed bun and a plate of pickles.

If you want to eat something good, pay for it yourself.

These craftsmen do manual labor and have big appetites. This little food is just enough to fill their teeth. How can they feel full?
Without any oil or water, they were even more anxious, so they could only buy food with their own money while cursing.

They were all craftsmen who made firearms on Santaishan Mountain in Tongchuan Road.

After Shen Xuzhong was appointed as the governor and pacification envoy of Tongchuan Road, the first thing he did was to ask Yang Yuan about the whereabouts of these precious treasures and he received all of them.

However, the officers and soldiers sent from the capital to escort them still behaved as before and naturally did not take these lowly craftsmen seriously.

But when Yang Yuan was around, he treated these skilled workers as treasures, taking great care of their food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Now that the imperial court has discovered the power of gunpowder, it has begun to pay attention to this technology.

However, the contempt for craftsmen who master this technology is a concept that cannot be changed in a short period of time.

The big restaurant expanded into an open space near the Yangtze River.

An area was also circled out on the water surface at the end of the open space, and a bamboo fence could be clearly seen protruding from the water.

I think there are many aquatic animals raised there.

In the fenced courtyard, there sat a beautiful woman with an elegant figure and a Taoist priest in green clothes with white hair and beard.

"Bai Li Bing, how about cooperating with me?"

The Taoist smiled as he looked at the beautiful woman opposite him and asked with confidence.

Baili Bing frowned slightly and said, "Tang Daosheng, you, the Blood Pagoda, have already ambushed reinforcements on the other side of the river, right?

This girl cooperated with you and captured these Song Dynasty firearms craftsmen, but once we enter the Jin Dynasty, won’t we be at your mercy?
I won't do anything that would make things easier for others."

This Taoist turned out to be Tang Daosheng, the first Buddhist monk of the Blood Buddhist Monastery of the Jin Kingdom, with the Taoist name Liu Yunzi. Tang Daosheng chuckled and said, "If you don't cooperate with me, even if you succeed in kidnapping these firearms craftsmen of the Song Kingdom, where can you take them?"

Tang Daosheng asked, "Can you go downstream, cross the border of the Great Song Dynasty, and return to Xinjin from the sea, or are you sure you can pass through the Great Jin territory?"

Tang Daosheng smiled slightly: "If I'm not mistaken, you have been running the business for many years, so you should have several hiding places. Do you plan to kidnap a few master craftsmen and hide them, and then dig out the secrets you want from them?"

Baili Bing's pretty face turned ugly when Tang Daosheng revealed her plan.

Tang Daosheng said: "Why not cooperate? You and I will each be responsible for one ship."

Baili Bing asked: "And then?"

Tang Daosheng said: "Then, we will cross the river together and quickly return to the Kingdom of Jin under the arrangement of my support team. What you take away will be yours. What we take away will be ours."

Baili Bing laughed coldly: "Are you so kind?"

Tang Daosheng sighed and said, "First, our business here is not as good as yours."

Tang Daosheng smiled bitterly and said, "'Xuefutu' has always focused on Lin'an, unlike you who are so focused on the local area.

I have to admire your Yiluansi for its foresight."

Hearing him praising his beloved brother, Baili Bing showed a slight smug look on his face.

Tang Daosheng said: "So, without your cooperation, we have little chance of success. It is easy to kill these craftsmen, but it is difficult to abduct so many people."

"Oh? What about the second one?"

"Second, Song is now relying on the advantage of firearms and is the biggest threat to Jin. But once Jin is destroyed, can you, New Jin, still get along well with Song?"

Tang Daosheng smiled faintly: "I believe that Miss Baili understands what I mean, and knows that I am telling the truth.

In this case, we have the possibility of cooperation.

Don't forget that Jin and Xinjin are from the same ancestor after all, and the relationship between us is as strong as the bones."

Baili Bing picked up the tea, took a sip, and narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly: "Liu Yunzi, you haven't told me yet, how can you guarantee that you can fulfill your promise after the matter is done."

"It's simple. After we succeed on the ship, I, 'Xue Fu Tu', will be responsible for stopping and killing the enemy, and these firearms craftsmen will be guarded by your people.

If we enter the territory of the Great Jin, our intentions will be hostile to you, but you are fully capable of killing all the craftsmen before we do.

That’s not what we wanted.”

Baili Bing couldn't help but be moved after hearing this.

Her original plan was indeed to kidnap a few master craftsmen and be done with it.

She was too far away from Xinjin, and even if she successfully abducted many firearms craftsmen, she would not be able to bring them back to Xinjin smoothly.

Seeing that Baili Bing's attitude had softened, Tang Daosheng said frankly, "Right now, Song is the strongest and poses the greatest threat to us.

If we get rid of one more person from the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty will be weaker, and the situation of our Jin Kingdom will be better. We have calculated this account clearly.

As for our Jin and Xin Jin, we have mastered the same technology, but the current situation remains.

This is my sincerity in cooperating with you."

"Okay!" Baili Bingzhu pursed her lips and put down the teacup.

"All the restaurants on this dock are now controlled by my people. After they board the ship, they will soon become weak and powerless.

My people will man the boats and sail to the north shore. I'll leave the aftermath to you, Taoist Tang."

"The Song Dynasty is ambitious, and Jin and New Jin are now in a state of mutual dependence.

Don't worry, Miss Baili, I, Xuefutu, will work together with Yiluansi and sincerely cooperate with them."

Tang Daosheng smiled and said this, then he drank tea as if it were wine and saluted Baili Bing from a distance.

……

In view of the special situation of Western Xia, Yang Yuan actually adopted a method similar to "using barbarians to control barbarians".

The Tuoba clan, the former royal family of Western Xia, must be suppressed.

But the suppression must be moderate and they should not be forced to rebel.

We must leave the Tuoba clan with hope of survival, otherwise the Tuoba clan will have no way to retreat and will have to fight to the death.

Therefore, he had a heart-to-heart talk with Tuoba Heiyi, analyzed the pros and cons, and asked the court for an order to reward Tuoba Hou and Tuoba Heiyi, so that the Tuoba tribes would have something to hope for.

At the same time, he vigorously promoted and made use of the meritorious Ren family, as well as large clans such as the Liu family and the Wang family that had been excluded and suppressed by Tuoba Ba.

These clans were able to rise and be valued because Western Xia was annexed by the Song Dynasty.

Their interests came from plundering the Tuoba royal family.

In this case, one must be more loyal to the Song Dynasty in order to keep everything.

At the same time, the Tuoba clan retained considerable strength, allowing them to achieve a certain balance and restraint between them.

This was the situation that Yang Yuan painstakingly planned for Western Xia.

During this period, friction did arise between some small tribes due to the redistribution of interests.

However, this kind of friction was something that happened frequently in Western Xia.

Armed fights sometimes occur due to unclear boundaries of pastures, personal grudges between tribes, etc.

But in Zhao Kai's eyes, this was the hidden danger left by Yang Yuan's hasty recovery of Western Xia, his greed for quick success and reckless advance without any management, and his rush to Shaanxi.

So what method did he use?

The Tuoba clan is a former royal family, so they will definitely not be given important positions.

The big clans such as Ren, Liu, and Wang were won over and supported by Yang Yuan, but they were not worthy of being used.

Zhao Ke decided to send a large number of officials away!
(End of this chapter)