Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 100 From Luxury to Frugality
"This word is 'jun', and the 'jun' of king is ..."

In mid-June, when the sounds of teaching and literacy were heard in the military camp, Liu Jilong's figure appeared outside the wooden shed.

More than fifty soldiers dressed in cloth, sitting under the wooden shed with wooden boards and charcoal pencils in their hands, all of them looking forward with eager eyes.

In front of them, a man was writing words on a wooden board with charcoal, teaching everyone to read.

Today’s Shandan Army practices the cycle of training once, rest once, and drill once.

The rest day was not for the soldiers to rest, but was used for cultural lessons.

Their daily task is to learn ten characters, recognize and understand five words, and write a diary.

To this end, Liu Jilian also mobilized dozens of foreign soldiers to participate in papermaking, which could produce 500 sheets of hemp paper about ten feet long every day, and after cutting, tens of thousands of sheets of paper could be obtained.

However, after these tens of thousands of sheets of paper were sewn into books with needle and thread, they could only be made into a hundred volumes, and the number that could be distributed to the army was very limited.

In addition, even the ink used for writing is produced in only a few kilograms per day.

Because of this, except for writing diaries when soldiers could use paper, pen, inkstone and ink, other daily calligraphy practice was still carried out on wooden boards.

Even with the productivity of tens of thousands of people in Shandan, Liu Jilong could only achieve this level.

"Everyone can read...Alas!"

Looking at the tireless appearance of his soldiers, Liu Jilong sighed in his heart.
If conditions permit, wouldn't he want to settle down, train the 1,400 brothers of the Shandan Army into the backbone, and then develop from there?

The eighty-nine brothers who died in the last battle were the talents he had trained with all his manpower and material resources. They were able to recognize more than a hundred words and understand arithmetic.

If they are given time, they can become the most basic straight-talkers or team leaders in a year or two.

Liu Jilian could rely on them to govern a city or thousands of soldiers.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but yearn for peace.

It’s a pity that the world is destined to become more and more chaotic, and if he wants peace, he can only fight for it himself.

"Zhechong!"

Suddenly, Cui Shu's voice was heard from a distance, and Liu Jilong also turned around to look.

Cui Shu was seen riding a horse quickly towards them, and the way he addressed Liu Jilong changed to "Zhechou".

All this was mainly due to the change in the way Li Wei addressed him that day. Now everyone in Shandan believed that his promotion to Zhecho was only a matter of time, so they arranged the title in advance.

Although doing so was an overstep, Liu Jilong did not stop it.

"what happened?"

Liu Jilong asked Cui Shu who was approaching, and Cui Shu also smiled and bowed:

"More than a hundred martyrs' relatives came from outside the city. Captain Ma said that there was an old friend he knew, so he took them to the east of the city to settle them down."

"Marx's relatives?" Liu Jilong smiled when he heard this.

Since settling in Shandan last year, he would send additional compensation and messages of relocation to the martyrs' families in various cities in Hexi after each battle.

However, nearly a year has passed, and not a single family of martyrs has been willing to move to Shandan.

Now this group of martyrs' relatives have arrived. Although they came a little late, at least they have arrived.

Once they arrive, I can realize my plan.

"Let's go and take a look!"

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the military stable not far away, pulled out a jet-black military horse from it, and rushed towards the east of the city with Cui Shu.

When the two men walked out of the military camp, many people on the street saw them and bowed to them from a distance.

Although the situation in Shandan is still mainly dependent on eating from a big pot, the big pot meals in Shandan are quite rich.

The people in the city basically wore relatively new cloth clothes, thanks to the linen and summer clothes distributed by Liu Jilian.

Walking towards the east of the city, you can visibly see the city wall getting farther away.

Of course, it was not that the city wall moved, but that Liu Jilian expanded the eastward of Shandan City.

The original east city wall was knocked down, and the entire city expanded three hundred steps to the east. Not only did the city wall need to be rebuilt and consolidated, but the four city gates also had to be relocated.

Fortunately, Shandan had a large population, and more than 10,000 people completed most of the construction of the city wall in just one month.

Judging from the current progress, it should be completed by the end of July.

"Zhechong!"

"Zhechong..."

Walking eastward, people along the street bowed to Liu Jilong one after another.

In the eastward expansion area, Liu Jilian planned six market towns and six hundred courtyards to accommodate the people rescued in the last eastern strategy, as well as those who might be rescued in the future.

The walls of these courtyards are eight-foot-high walls made of tamped gravel and earth bricks. There is a main house, two side rooms, and two back houses in the courtyard.

Such a yard is big enough to accommodate seven or eight people and can satisfy most families.

Such a courtyard is still under construction and will probably be completed before the city wall is completed, allowing all the people to live in the courtyard over the winter.

The people knew that they were building a yard for themselves, so everyone worked very hard.

After all, for them who used to be pastoral slaves, their life now is like heaven and no one dares to be lazy.

The gravel road is filled with construction materials such as clay, sand, and lime.

In this temporarily messy area, Liu Jilong quickly saw Ma Cheng and others who were dividing the rooms.

Liu Jilong was too eye-catching. Before he even got close to speak, people were already looking at him and bowing to him.

Ma Cheng turned around and ran over to Liu Jilong when he saw him. He pointed at a family of six in the distance and said happily, "Zhechong, guess who those people are?"

"Hmm?" Liu Jilong dismounted and handed the reins to Cui Shu while looking at the family of six about ten steps away.

They were a couple in their forties. Next to them stood a pretty woman holding a child of two or three years old. Behind the woman stood two young boys.

Looking at this family of six, Liu Jilong really couldn't remember who they were.

"Who?" He looked at Ma Cheng in confusion. Ma Cheng smiled and stepped forward to lead the way. When Liu Jilong came to the six people, he patted his chest and said, "This is Liu Zhechong!"

"Zhechong..."

When they heard that the person coming was Liu Jilong, they bowed and saluted immediately, and Liu Jilong also raised his hand and said, "Get up."

After that, he looked at Ma Cheng in confusion, and Ma Cheng said, "Zhechong, these two are Zhao Qian's parents, this woman is Zhao Qian's wife, the one in her arms is Zhao Qian's baby, and those two boys are Zhao Qian's younger brothers."

"Zhao Qian..." Liu Jilong thought of Zhao Qian and bowed to the six people:

"Since they are Zhao Qian's family, they are also my relatives."

"Don't dare, don't dare..."

Seeing Liu Jilong being so humble, several people waved their hands nervously.

Zhao Qian was just a soldier. After his death, Jiuquan gave him 50 acres of government land as compensation, and Liu Jilian sent someone to deliver nearly 100 strings of cash to them.

In their opinion, Liu Jilong was their family's great benefactor. How could they be worthy of Liu Jilong's respect?

"Has the yard been arranged?"

Liu Jilong asked Ma Cheng, and Ma Cheng nodded and said, "Let's arrange it here."

He pointed to the newly built courtyard next to him and said, "I asked Li Ji to take people to pick up the things. We can move in soon."

"Yes." Liu Jilong nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Zhao Qian's family and said kindly:

"Now that we are in Shandan, there is no need to worry about other things."

"I will allocate 200 acres of wasteland to you in a few days, and the two boys can go to the military camp to study and practice martial arts. In the future, even if you are not good enough, you can still be a straight man."

"If there are any difficulties, you can send people to the military camp to find Ma Cheng, Zhang Chang, Li Ji, and Geng Ming. They will help."

Zhao Qian's family was somewhat flattered by Liu Jilong's concern.

Fortunately, Li Ji and his team came back in time, easing the awkwardness in the air.

Bedding, cloth, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and other daily necessities were brought into the courtyard, and soon the courtyard was filled with the atmosphere of home.

After a few brief greetings, Liu Jilong stood up and walked out of the yard. After all, Zhao Qian's family was too reserved in front of him, and it would not be good for him to stay too long.

After he left, he turned around and asked Ma Cheng and Li Ji, "Are the relatives of Jiao Da, Wang Lie, and Mao Zhong not here yet?"

"No." Ma Cheng and Li Ji shook their heads like rattles.

After hearing this, Liu Jilong sighed, but did not force it.

He took a few people to walk through the streets and saw more than a dozen other families of martyrs moving into this newly built street. He couldn't help but give Ma Cheng and the others many instructions.

Although there had not been any cases in Shandan, when Liu Jilong saw the families of many orphans and widows, he was still worried that someone would be so audacious as to bully them.

"Send two more groups of people to patrol this street, so that the brothers who left will not feel bad down there."

"Don't worry, Zhechong, I will move here myself tomorrow and see if anyone dares to commit any crime!"

Li Ji patted his chest and assured that after all, he was alone and it was very convenient for him to move. In comparison, Ma Cheng, who had parents, wife and children, could not do it.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong deliberately said: "I thought about it, it would be good to let the children go to the military camp to study, but after all, it is too noisy."

"How about this, pick a yard not far from the military camp and turn it into a school, and send a Zhibai to teach these children how to read every day."

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, he kept his eyes fixed on Cui Shu.

Cui Shu bowed immediately after hearing this and said, "Don't worry, Zhechong, it won't take long to get this done."

"Just your words are enough." Liu Jilong nodded with a smile, and then reminded him of some other things.

For example, the school meals must include meat every day, and there must be a supply of paper, pens, inkstones, etc.

Since there were not many children of martyrs' relatives in Shandan City, and there were only about 30 of them of appropriate age, the expense was not high, so Cui Shu agreed without hesitation.

Seeing that he agreed, Liu Jilong returned the gift and let him go on with his work.

Ma Cheng and Li Ji had nothing to do. Today was the day for the soldiers in the barracks to rest and attend classes. They had nothing to do, so they just followed Liu Jilong like a follower.

Taking the two of them, Liu Jilong first visited the paper-making workshop, then went to see the herds outside the city, and finally went to the reclaimed land to watch the people reclaiming the wasteland.

Under his management, Shandan has entered a period of stable development.

Even if Liu Jilong did nothing, Cui Shu and others followed the instructions step by step, and in a few years Shandan would be able to grow in population and have enough food and clothing.

Compared to here, the situation in Shanzhou, more than 500 miles away from him, is not so good.

A month ago, Shang Duoluo sent out light cavalry to inform Shanzhou to send horse and ox carts to Shandan to transport grain.

After half a month of hard work, the horse and ox carts finally arrived in Shandan, and Liu Jilian first transported 20,000 shi of grain for Shang Duoluo to transport back to Shanzhou.

As the round trip ended, it was already mid-June.

When Liu Jilian met Zhao Qian's widow, Shang Duoluo also arrived in Shancheng with more than 300 elite cavalry from Shanzhou and more than 3,000 horse-drawn carriages.

"Chiliben!"

On horseback, Shang Duoluo saw Shang Bibi and Tuoba Huaiguang guarding the city gate from a distance.

He rode up first, bowed to Shang Bibi, and nodded to Tuoba Huaiguang as a greeting.

"Has all the food been shipped?"

Shang Bibi's face didn't look very good, or rather, the face of the entire Shanzhou City wasn't very good either.

Judging from their faces, they were obviously living a very poor life these days.

People like Shang Bibi and Tuoba Huaiguang were relatively okay, except that their complexions were yellow, while the rest of the soldiers and civilians were pale and thin.

Seeing Shang Bibi's eager eyes, Shang Duoluo did not hide anything, but bowed and said, "Twenty thousand dan of grain, more than eight hundred dan were consumed on the way."

"so much?!"

Shang Bibi, Tuoba Huaiguang and others did not expect that they could obtain so much food during this eastern expedition.

With these 20,000 dan of grain, the military and civilians of Shanzhou can last at least another three months.

"Qiliben, wasn't there enough food to eat? Why..."

Shang Duoluo asked tentatively, his eyes constantly looking at the pale and thin Shanzhou soldiers and civilians.

Not only was he looking around, but even the elite cavalry from Shanzhou behind him and the soldiers and civilians from Shanzhou in front of him were also looking around.

In the eyes of the Shanzhou elite cavalry, these fellow villagers from Shanzhou were starving to the point of being unrecognizable. It was hard to imagine what kind of hard life they were living.

In comparison, in the eyes of Shanzhou’s military and civilians, the Shanzhou elite cavalry on horseback had ruddy complexions, were fat and strong, and one of them was as good as two of them.

I originally thought that these guys were risking their lives, but now it seems that they are living better than begging for mercy?

For a moment, many soldiers and civilians were envious, and Shang Bibi also explained to Shang Duoluo:

"The drought in Helong and Hehuang continued, and Lun Kongre did not ask for troops and food from the Tang Dynasty, so the states all started to secede."

"Seeing the famine in Helong, I raised my banner and began to recruit the tribes."

"I never thought that the tribes in nearby Kuzhou and Lanzhou would all come to rely on us, and the food that was originally enough to last for many months has become a little tight."

"If you hadn't sent out the light cavalry to deliver the message, these guys would have probably run away to seek refuge with someone else."

"Although we kept them, the sheep were slaughtered ten days ago. These days, they have been eating corn porridge and wild vegetables."

"Fortunately, you arrived in time..." Shang Bibi's eyes revealed excitement, and Shang Duoluo heard it and said:
"There are still 10,000 shi of grain that have not been shipped over to Shandan. I will lead my men back to Shandan tomorrow and should be able to bring back the grain by the end of July."

"Good, good, good!" Shang Bibi did not expect that the gains from this Eastern Strike would be so great, but after thinking about it, he said:
"Although we have these 30,000 dan of grain, it can only allow our army to hold out for two more months at most."

"So when you return to Shandan this time, I hope you can borrow 20,000 dan of grain from Liu Jilong and transport it back together."

"In addition, there are many Han slaves from the various tribes that have come to rely on you. I have gathered these Han slaves together. You will take them back with you this time."

"Liu Jilong said before that each Han slave sold two dan of grain, and this group of Han slaves can sell more than three thousand dan."

Shang Bibi was always talking about grain trade with Liu Jilian, which shows how serious the situation in Shanzhou was.

Hearing him say this, Shang Duoluo hesitated for a moment and then told Shang Bibi what Liu Jilong had told him.

Originally Shang Duoluo thought Shang Maibi would be unhappy, but unexpectedly Shang Maibi smiled and said, "Okay!"

"All the soldiers in the city, including you, will be transferred to his command, provided that he is willing to lend me another 20,000 dan of grain!"

Shang Duoluo didn't expect Shang Bibi to agree so easily, so he glanced at Tuoba Huaiguang next to him and said, "Tuoba Qiliben, look..."

"That's fine." Tuoba Huaiguang was also unwilling to lend troops, but the problem was that if he didn't lend troops, there would be famine.

By that time, the people of Shanzhou would have run away, and it would be useless for him even if he had armor.

Shang Duoluo also understood this principle, but he didn't expect it to be so easy.

While he was in a daze, Shang Maibi also smiled and said:

"The soldiers and horses in the city are so skinny that they are unrecognizable. I will let you take Shang Moyan and his 700-plus men over there, and the remaining 800-plus armored soldiers will stay to defend the city."

"Seven hundred?!" Shang Duo Luo was surprised and asked, but Shang Bi Bi said:
"That Lun Kongre was ruthless and incompetent, causing drought and famine in the Helong area, and countless soldiers under his command fled."

"In Shanzhou alone, nearly a thousand soldiers have come to surrender."

"If he continues like this, I think he will be like a withered bone in a tomb, and will soon be defeated..."

Shang Bibi sneered as she spoke, with a hint of cruelty appearing from time to time, and it was obvious that she was happy to see the defeat of her enemy Lun Kongre.

In response to this, Shang Duoluo also took a breath of cold air.

Although Kongre was powerful, he had only about 10,000 soldiers under his command.

Now he went to the Tang Dynasty to ask for soldiers and food but failed. Less than half a month after returning to Hezhou, thousands of soldiers ran away.

If his own Jiedushi could unite the soldiers under Du Kongre's command, perhaps he could help Shandan to recapture Liangzhou.

Thinking of this, Shang Duoluo suddenly felt eager to return home and wanted to tell Liu Jilong about the situation in Helong.

"Okay, let's cook first."

Shang Bibi looked at the carts of food greedily and couldn't stop swallowing her saliva.

Not only he, but also all the Shanzhou soldiers and civilians outside the city made such a move.

Looking at this scene, Shang Duoluo suddenly felt that they were very pathetic.

Zhang Yichao, Zhang Huaishen, Liu Jilong and others were able to manage Hexi in an orderly manner and use water conservancy dams to store water to survive the drought.

In contrast, they were suffering from famine and could only buy or borrow food, which was only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution.

Judging from the conditions alone, Shanzhou, which relies on the Huangshui River, should not worry about water shortage, but the fact is just the opposite.

Thinking of all this, Shang Duoluo only hated that he was not a Han Chinese and did not directly follow Liu Jilong.

"Let's go in!"

Under the urging of Shang Bibi, Shang Duoluo still entered Shanzhou City with them.

But after staying in Shandan for a long time and coming back to Shancheng, he felt that Shancheng was full of filth and life was extremely poor.

Indeed, he felt so even though he was so loyal to Shang Bi Bi, not to mention the more than 300 elite cavalrymen who followed him back to Shanzhou.

Shancheng, which was once prosperous in their eyes, is no more prosperous than Shandan.

The idea of this gap emerged when we met, and was already brewing after we entered the city.

After an hour of suffering, when the Shanzhou elite cavalry opened the pot and saw the food inside, they felt like the sky had fallen.

The sticky corn is brewed and cooked together with the bran, without any trace of oil or meat.

Faced with this bowl of food, many elite cavalrymen from Shanzhou hurriedly went to find Shang Duoluo without even eating.

They had only one request, which was to bring them back to Shandan, back to Liu Zhechong...

(End of this chapter)