Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 221: Clear Words and Troublesome Actions

The fruits and vegetables are fragrant in June, which is a good time after the summer harvest.

When Chang'an learned about the rebellion in Huizhou and made arrangements, the summer harvest in Longyou was over, and Chen Ying also returned to Didao with the team heading north.

"General, I have fulfilled your mission!"

Outside the north gate of Didao, Chen Ying handed out a booklet with both hands.

Liu Jilong did not take the document, but helped him up, hugged him and patted his shoulders: "You didn't lose weight this time going north, you've become a lot stronger."

"I have heard the news you sent me. Many things have indeed happened in Hexi. You can find Zhang Chang to find out more later."

Liu Jilong briefly mentioned the affairs of Hexi.

After all, for him, the development of Longyou is the most important.

No matter how much he said on the Hexi side, he could not stop what was about to happen or what had happened.

Of course, he still privately sent someone to deliver the information that Chen Ying had found out to Zhang Huaishen. As to whether it could be delivered in time, it was unknown.

He thought that the matter was over in the north, but Chen Ying shook his head and added, "General, the Huizhou tribes are in chaos."

"What?" Liu Jilong asked in confusion, and Chen Ying also began to explain.

When the Huizhou tribes rebelled, Chen Ying and his men were on their way south from Lingzhou.

When they arrived in Wulan County, they learned that the Huizhou barbarians had rebelled and captured Huining County.

At that time, Zhang Zhifang had already led his troops out of the city to fight against the foreigners. In order to protect his troops from being affected, Chen Ying chose to take a detour through a wild road back to Longyou and sent people to gather intelligence.

When the people he sent arrived at the front line, Zhang Zhifang had already repelled the foreigners and sent troops to besiege Huining County, waiting for reinforcements to quell the rebellion.

However, the Shuofang Army and the Jingyuan Army did not send troops to support. Instead, the Tianxiong Army, which was the farthest away, arrived in Huining County first.

After the Tianxiong Army arrived, Zhang Zhifang immediately led his troops to attack Huining County.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of effort from the Tianxiong Army, Zhang Zhifang was unable to capture Huining after several days of attack.

At least when Chen Ying was about to arrive at Wuquan, he had not heard the news that Zhang Zhifang had captured Huining.

Now three days have passed, and even he has no idea what the situation is in Huining.

Upon learning what happened, Liu Jilong couldn't help but frown and said, "What kind of idiot did the court send to take over Huizhou?"

To him, Zhang Zhifang's performance was indeed rubbish.

The reason why the barbarians rebelled was because of Suo Xun. Even though Huining City was captured, there were not many armored soldiers among the barbarians who could be considered combat-capable.

If Zhang Zhifang fought bravely and recaptured Huining County, he would also be considered a brave general.

If he could win the hearts of the people and persuade the Huining people to surrender while besieging Huining City, he would have reached the level of a good general.

As a result, this guy behaved so poorly when facing the rebellious Huining people.

As Zhang Zhongwu's eldest son, he actually fought back and forth with an unknown foreign general in Huining City. If Zhang Zhongwu knew about this, he would probably be so angry that he would come back to life.

After what he did, his horse trade in Guannei Road might be in vain.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong took a deep breath and analyzed:

"I think Gao Pian was afraid that I would get wind of the news and go to recapture Huining, so he sent troops to help Zhang Zhifang."

As soon as he finished speaking, he took the document from Chen Ying and opened it to read it in front of everyone.

Gao Jinda bowed and said, "General, should we send troops to Huizhou?"

"No need." Liu Jilong shook his head and refused.

There are more aboriginals than Han people in Huizhou, so we can use Gao Pian and Zhang Zhifang to clear out some of the aboriginals and migrate a group of Han people there.

Anyway, judging from Zhang Zhifang's situation in Youzhou and Liangzhou, as well as the means he used to suppress the rebellion this time, even with the support of the Tang court, it would be difficult for him to achieve results in Huizhou.

If I really break with the Tang court in the future, this state can be easily taken, so there is no need to worry about it.

Therefore, he no longer mentioned the affairs of Huizhou, but concentrated on the contents of the documents submitted by Chen Ying.

After a while, he closed the document, smiled from ear to ear, turned to everyone and said:
"One thousand oxen, four hundred and twenty draft horses, more than 2,400 civilians, more than 9,000 taels of gold and more than 70,000 strings of copper coins."

"The money and food that we need in Longyou for the second half of the year have all been taken care of by this kid Chen Ying!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Everyone laughed, and Chen Ying said a little embarrassedly:

"I originally wanted to exchange it all for gold, but the gold in Guannei Road has been mostly earned from our two trades."

"There is no other way but to buy more than 400 draft horses to pull the money and grain."

"You are taking advantage of me and still acting like a good boy." Liu Jilong patted him on the shoulder, then took his wrist and walked towards the city gate.

The horse was ready, and Liu Jilong tried to help Chen Ying mount the horse, but Chen Ying naturally did not dare to let Liu Jilong help him mount the horse.

"General, this is unacceptable..."

Facing his concerns, Liu Jilong chuckled and said, "Nothing is impossible. You and I are both working for the people of Longyou. Let's go!"

He urged Chen Ying to get on the horse, and Chen Ying had no choice but to climb on the horse. After Liu Jilong handed him the reins, he got on another horse himself.

Seeing Liu Jilian mount his horse, more than a hundred generals and officials at the city gate mounted their horses one after another.

They moved towards the Protectorate, and soon they entered the Protectorate one after another.

The main hall, which could hold more than 200 people, became a little crowded after they came in, but it was still able to accommodate them.

After they sat down, Liu Jilong also spoke up: "I will lead the troops to the battle in three days."

"Before we go out on the expedition, there are some things that need to be finalized, so I'm calling everyone here."

"The summer harvest records have been compiled. This year's summer tax is 67,456 dan (24.3 catties) of wheat."

"In addition, there are 320,000 mu of hemp, but it takes time to process the hemp stalks, and there is a second batch of hemp stalks to be harvested and processed after the autumn harvest, so we will still wait until after the Lantern Festival next year to collect the hemp cloth as before."

"Women in each household still make linen at home according to the old custom."

"Except for those who were conscripted as laborers, the rest of the men in each household continued to cultivate public land and, under the leadership of the water engineers, repaired and maintained the canals and dams in the counties and prefectures."

"Most of you here have experienced the period of Tibetan rule and should know how hard our people lived."

“The burden on the people is heavy. They are the ones who support us.”

"Now their lives are just getting a little better. Whether they can continue to live a better life depends on how our officials and officials in various states and counties lead them."

"I still say that the people under our rule generally have a low level of education, and even many of our officials are not very knowledgeable, so they tend to get impatient when doing things."

"We are impatient, and the people are impatient too, so there will be conflicts and contradictions."

"If things can be slowed down, they should be slowed down a bit. Don't rush people to work just for the end-of-year exams and to get good results."

After Liu Jilian finished speaking, the officials in the main hall bowed one after another to show that they were learning from him.

In response to this, Liu Jilong frowned slightly. He didn't know whether everyone had heard what he said.

He knew very well that the burden on the people of Longyou was not light. In addition to the land tax of one-fifth of the tax, women had to grow hemp and weave it into linen and hand it over to the government.

Although the government would purchase the goods at the price of two dou of grain per piece of hemp, this price was undoubtedly lower than the market price outside Longyou.

Men were assigned to reclaim public fields or inspect and maintain water conservancy projects at a monthly wage of five dou.

It was precisely relying on the income scissors of the peasants that Longyou was able to support nearly 20,000 military officers with 240,000 civilians.

Of course, burden is relative. At least compared with the people under the rule of the imperial court and the local governors, the people of Longyou are still very "happy".

There is basically no such thing as free corvée in Longyou. All work requires food, it’s just a matter of quantity.

Although the burden is heavy and they work almost all year round, the amount of food they receive each year is considerable.

The output of the land plus the income from corvee and weaving was enough for each household to obtain 28 shi of grain each year, which after processing could produce 22 shi of finished grain and 56 shi of bran.

Basically, each person can get one pound, five pound, six ounces of rice and wheat every day, and the six or seven hundred pounds of bran can also be used to feed draft horses and oxen, and to raise some poultry, pigs, sheep and other livestock.

For the people in Longyou, it was difficult to eat meat. For a household with five or six people, it was considered rich if they could eat two kilograms of meat per month.

Because of this, soldiers who can eat meat every now and then are undoubtedly popular in Longyou.

But the reason why the soldiers could eat so much meat was also inseparable from the support of the people in Longyou.

The common people raised so many livestock and poultry, and the meat consumed basically went into the stomachs of the soldiers. For the Protectorate, the military pay of the soldiers was not a big expense, but the daily expenses of raising the soldiers were relatively large.

The 20,000 civil and military officials and soldiers consumed more than 40,000 sheep, tens of thousands of chickens, ducks and geese, and hundreds of beef and pigs every year.

It is for this reason that the herd in Longyou has not yet exceeded 200,000.

Liu Jilong's two identities told him that he should be nicer to the people. Even if he could not meet modern standards, he could not follow the standards of the feudal era.

It cannot meet modern standards because productivity is not high enough and it is easy to fail.

We cannot follow the standards of the feudal era because the standards of "loving the people" in the feudal era were too low.

Even emperors like Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang, who were known for their "love for the people", did not actually treat the people as human beings.

Liu Jilong's standards for himself are much higher than theirs, and he is getting closer to this goal.

Longyou was a blank sheet of paper on which he could write and draw.

But as time goes by, problems will arise with the white paper, and it will not be easy to make changes then.

Looking at the officials in the main hall, Liu Jilong pondered for a moment and then looked at Chen Ying: "How is the sales of roasted tea in Guannei Road?"

"Reply to the commander." Chen Ying saw that he was called, and he immediately replied:

"We only brought 200 dan of roasted tea to test the waters this time, but we didn't expect to be able to sell it at the price of two guan coins per dan."

"With the tea production in Longyou, we can earn 20,000 strings of cash every year by selling tea to the Guannei Road."

"However, the price of horses in the inner pass has risen a bit. Now it has reached 4 strings of cash for a draft horse, 9 strings of cash for a riding horse, 12 strings of cash for a military horse, and 7 strings of cash for an ox."

"In addition, the price of starving people in Guannei Road has also increased. Coupled with the unrest in Huizhou, I am afraid that our horse trade in Guannei Road will be in vain."

Chen Ying's judgment was quite correct. Given the military discipline of the government troops, the population would inevitably drop sharply after the Huizhou turmoil ended. At that time, the imperial court would most likely recruit the hungry people from Guannei Road to Huizhou.

In this way, the starving people in Guannei Road were resettled, and it became difficult for Longyou to pacify the starving people.

However, Liu Jilian had already guessed this when he learned about the rebellion of the Huizhou barbarians.

"No problem. We can't do the horse trade, but we can still do the trade of tea, silk and other things."

Liu Jilong comforted him and looked at Cao Mao at the same time: "The oral-horse trade depends on you."

"Don't worry, General!" Cao Mao bowed and said:

"As long as there is enough money and food, the officials of Jiannan Road and Shannan Road can bring enough hungry people."

"Even if the Jiedushi is replaced, it will not affect their trade with us."

Although Pei Xiu's reforms of the grain transport and salt and iron industries increased the court's tax revenue, officials from various prefectures and counties still had to transport money and grain to Jingzhao.

While maintaining the operation of prefectures and counties, it was also necessary to transport money and grain, which forced many prefecture and county officials to join the horse trade in Longyou.

This shows that the national treasury has long been in deficit.

After all, compared with historical situations, due to the sudden rise of Liu Jilian, the imperial court had to add troops in Qin and Long, and the financial burden also increased accordingly.

If war breaks out again, the court will have no choice but to continue to increase taxes on the people.

Once taxes are imposed on the people, the people in Huainan, Henan and other provinces will inevitably be overwhelmed and will have no choice but to rise up in rebellion.

It can be said that with the situation developing to this point, even if Liu Jilian did nothing, the demise of the Tang court would have come early.

But he will not just wait patiently, but will continue to add fuel to the fire.

Thinking of this, he looked at Zhang Chang and asked, "Has there been any unusual movement in Mochanchuan's theory of fear recently?"

"No." Zhang Chang shook his head.
"The tribes in Mochanchuan originally attached themselves to him because of his fame. Last year, he returned empty-handed. Although those tribes did not leave him directly, they are not so submissive anymore."

"Old Ma has sent a lot of merchants to Mochanchuan this year and has won over a lot of people. As long as Lunkongre makes any moves, we will be able to grasp it immediately."

Ma Cheng remained steady. He was very skilled at adding sand to the Mochan River, even better than Shang Duoluo and Cuoben.

"Keep an eye on him. Once we have recaptured Shanzhou, the next step will be to eliminate this person."

Liu Jilong narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke in a calm tone the words that would decide his life or death.

Zhang Chang nodded in agreement, and Liu Jilong also talked about many things afterwards. Finally, they decided to hold a banquet in the main hall and talk while eating.

However, when he was making all the arrangements, Yang Fugong, who had left Linzhou, also arrived in Chengdu at the same time.

The quality of the horses in Longyou is indeed better than that of the military horses in Guannei Road, which is enough for Bai Minzhong to train an elite cavalry for Xichuan.

Bai Minzhong was very satisfied with this and couldn't help but praise:

"With Zi Ke working hard for Xichuan, Xichuan's elite cavalry can be trained early to defend the border and expand the territory for the court."

The two men stood in a horse farm more than ten miles north of Chengdu, looking at the horses they brought back from Longyou, and they could not hide the satisfaction on their faces.

Yang Fugong bowed and said, "Your Excellency, I am too kind. I just did what I should do."

"With these mule troops, horse troops and elite cavalry trained by the Minister of Works, Xichuan will also be as strong as a copper wall and an iron wall. Even if Tubo regains its former strength, it will be difficult to cross the two states of Yi and Wei."

"Hehe..." Bai Minzhong chuckled a few times, then asked:
"It's not easy for you to get so many horses. Given Liu Jilong's character, I'm afraid he won't sell these good horses easily."

"Indeed." Yang Fugong acknowledged Bai Minzhong's guess and conveyed Liu Jilong's words to Bai Minzhong.

After all, Bai Minzhong had said before that the cooperation between Xichuan and Longyou would not last long.

If he doesn't nod, the trade between the two parties will probably come to an end.

Fortunately, Yang Fugong's worries were unnecessary, because after listening to his words, Bai Minzhong shook his head and said:

"He just wants to delay us so that the trade route can be opened for a longer time and more hungry people and refugees can be relocated."

"But since he started to relocate the refugees and the hungry people, the number of cases in Xichuan has decreased a lot, which is a good thing."

As the name suggests, the starving people are all people who have suffered misfortune. As long as they are properly resettled, they will basically not cause trouble. However, the refugees are different.

Exiles were originally a term for those who behaved in seclusion and lived in seclusion from the world.

But as time went by, it gradually began to refer to those who were idle all day and did not farm.

These people gathered into gangs, often using the weapons they commonly used in fights as their nicknames.

Whenever their numbers increase, they will begin to collude with low-level officials, collect protection fees from the people, and use the money to bribe county officials.

In addition, they would also spy on the information of merchants in the counties and prefectures where they settled, and try every means to obtain their private information such as their addresses, fathers’ and grandfathers’ names, and then forge IOUs from these merchants’ fathers and grandfathers, and bring their gangs to collect debts.

When the merchants feel that it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of these IOUs and are hesitant to make a decision, this group of people will threaten the merchants with harsh words, explain the pros and cons, and force the merchants to "pay back the debt" and consider themselves unlucky.

Of course, the exiles who can do these things are all capable exiles.

Those fugitives without power usually commit petty thefts, eat for free, molest women, and bully others in the market.

In the past, Bai Minzhong was also very troubled by these fugitives. He could not kill them if he caught them, and he had no money to resettle them, so he could only detain them for a few days and then let them go.

Now that Liu Jilian was willing to accept them, Bai Minzhong simply had these immigrants who had committed crimes arrested, demoted them to slaves, and sold them to Longyou.

With this method, the atmosphere in Xichuan was clarified, and he also earned some money from Liu Jilian to enrich the treasury.

However, most of the money flowed back to Longyou. After all, Xichuan needed Longyou's horses.

Thinking of this, Bai Minzhong also pondered: "Since the beginning of spring, several counties have suffered disasters, tens of thousands of disaster victims need to be resettled, and the government treasury can't afford so much money and grain."

"Send someone to take a look and resettle the young and strong, and move the old, weak, women and children to Longyou."

He finally decided to give Liu Jilong some sweet benefits in order to obtain more good horses from Longyou and train the elite cavalry he had been dreaming of.

However, the so-called "migration" did not go through normal channels, but still went through the oral channel.

Yang Fugong was also well-informed, so he bowed and promised: "Don't worry, Sikong, I will take care of this matter, and there will be no mistakes."

"But if this matter were known to others, then..."

Bai Minzhong frowned slightly and said without hesitation: "In a few days, I will send mule troops to replace the troops from Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Weizhou, and Yizhou. You can do whatever you want."

The four states he mentioned are all states and counties bordering Xichuan and Longyou.

Without the troops from these states and counties to tip off, naturally no one would know about their affair with Liu Jilong.

Seeing this, Yang Fugong bowed slowly and retreated, while Bai Minzhong stroked his beard and watched the fine horses from Longyou galloping in the distance, his satisfaction evident in his words.

(End of this chapter)