Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 269: Capturing the Second Khan
In March, when the Tang court sent Cui Xuan to lead troops south to encircle and suppress Qiu Fu, Qiu Fu did not sit idly by and wait for death.

On March 24, Qiu Fu led 30,000 insurgent troops and launched a large-scale offensive against the remaining counties in eastern Zhejiang.

The rebel army was divided into three groups and in less than ten days, they successively captured Quzhou, Wuzhou (Jinhua), Yuyao, Cixi and other places.

Wherever the rebel army went, corrupt officials were beheaded and the rebel army opened government warehouses to stabilize grain prices. Therefore, the people in eastern Zhejiang all followed Qiu Fu.

As the treasury was empty, Li Chen ordered Cui Xuan, the governor of Huainan, to raise money and food on his own.

However, due to the flood in July last year, Huainan Road is now full of starving people and it is impossible to raise money and food.

Because of this, Cui Xuan could only raise money and grain from the Liangzhe area, but the Liangzhe area had been exploited by the court for many years and the people had long been suffering.

For a time, the people in Liangzhe fled, bandits emerged everywhere, and the number of rebels supporting Qiu Fu increased day by day.

At the same time, Pei Xiu of Henan Province gathered 60,000 troops to attack Puzhou, while Wang Shouwen defended several counties of Puzhou.

The two wars greatly consumed the Tang court's energy, making it unable to move westward.

Not to mention Liangzhou, even Longyou seems less important.

Because of this, Liu Jilian led his army to calmly besiege Liangzhou for more than half a month. Dugazhi surrendered several times, but was rejected by Liu Jilian.

It was not that Liu Jilian did not want to accept surrender, but that Dugazhi had no sincerity in surrendering at all.

"Humph, this guy still wants to continue herding in Baitinghai. Does he think that I am on the same level as Suo Xun?"

On the second day of April, tens of thousands of tents were set up outside Guzang City, and the people who migrated from Guangwu were carrying out spring ploughing.

Liu Jilian stood beside the official road, looking at Guzang City from afar, holding Dugazhi's letter of surrender in his hand.

Dugazhi was willing to surrender to Liu Jilian, but the precondition was that Liu Jilian allowed him to lead his troops north to Baitinghai to graze.

To this end, Dugazhi was willing to hand over 3,000 horses and 5,000 cattle to the Longyou Military Governor's Office every year.

"Kill him, and the herds in the city will be mine too!"

Liu Jilong closed the letter of surrender and handed it to Dou Bin beside him without looking back.

Dou Bin took it and bowed, saying, "General, we have searched all the dozen valleys in the south. There should be no other herds."

"In this campaign, the number of captives from the south alone is over 400,000. These herds of barbarians are really numerous!"

Dou Bin swallowed his saliva, while Liu Jilian looked at the people who had migrated from Guangwu.

"Later, send someone to ask Yishan how the farmland outside Liangzhou City is going?"

While he was explaining, Dou Bin bowed and said, "Li, the governor, just told me that most of the 640,000 mu of arable land in Liangzhou has been cultivated."

"There's news from the Protectorate that before May, there should be more than 3,000 immigrants from Jiannan Road moving to Liangzhou."

"In addition, the Protectorate shipped 200,000 dan of grain and fodder, and received 193,654 dan."

"At present, there are 24,357 Hankous and 42,161 Hufans in Liangzhou."

In the vast Liangzhou, there are only more than 60,000 people left.

If the 100,000 poor people in Guzang City are included, the number reaches 160,000, which is 50,000 more than the peak of Liangzhou.

However, during this half month, Zhang Chang continued to use flour and gunpowder bags to ignite buildings in the city, and there must have been many casualties.

How many people are there in the city? Even Dugazhi may not be able to answer this question.

"Tell Zhang Chang to continue attacking with catapults. Without my order, you are not allowed to use gunpowder bags to blow up the city walls!"

"The last general takes command!"

After Liu Jilong gave the instructions, he continued to command the spring planting of more than 10,000 Hankou soldiers outside Guzang City.

At the same time, on the position east of Guzang City, Zhang Chang led 3,000 armored soldiers to operate catapults to attack.

What lay before them was no longer a majestic city wall made of rammed earth and bricks, but a ruin with seven or eight out of ten bricks collapsed, exposing the rammed earth.

From south to north, the two-mile-long city wall collapsed in more than 20 places, some of which were only ten or two zhang in size, and some were fifty or six zhang in size.

Although there were still gaps of about ten feet in the wall at various places, Zhang Chang was confident that he could blow up the city wall within half an hour as long as Liu Jilian agreed to use gunpowder bags.

However, the military order he received was to surround the enemy, so he was not in a hurry to attack the city.

He and Dou Bin, one was responsible for fighting and the other for surrounding.

Under their siege, Dugazhi in the city tried to break out dozens of times but failed, and asked for surrender four times but was rejected.

"Sorry..."

When Dou Bin rode back to the west of the city and came to the front of the battle line, Zhang Chang subconsciously asked, "What did the commander say?"

"Same old as always!" Dou Bin dismounted, walked to Zhang Chang's side, picked up the bamboo tube on the table, opened it, and drank a sip of herbal tea happily.

"This herbal tea is still the best!"

Dou Bin wiped his mouth and looked at Zhang Chang with a smile: "After this battle, Zhang's prestige will rise again."

"Don't say such things in the future." Zhang Chang interrupted him with a frown, and Dou Bin also shut up tactfully upon seeing this.

Although Liu Jilian banned factionalism within the Protectorate, the relationships within the army were very complicated and not so easy to correct.

Zhang Chang, Chen Jingchong, Li Ji, Geng Ming, Ma Cheng and other five people were the first to follow Liu Jilong, but only the three old men, Zhang Chang, Chen Jingchong and Li Ji, were able to form a faction.

In addition, there are Shang Duoluo and Gao Jinda.

Although Geng Ming and Ma Cheng were respectively in charge of two important places, Hezhou and Chengzhou, they did not form their own factions.

The former Geng Ming separated military affairs from daily life. Even if someone wanted to rely on him, he would decisively refuse the visitor.

The latter's Ma Cheng did have this idea, but Ma Cheng lacked ability, and coupled with his age of fifty-four, not many generals followed him.

In comparison, Li Ji, Zhang Chang and Chen Jingchong all led their own armies, and Zhang Chang was the first general to follow Liu Jilian.

Because of this, many people followed Zhang Chang's path, but Zhang Chang did not close the door to visitors like Geng Ming did.

He would try his best to help old acquaintances and subordinates.

Dou Bin was Zhang Chang's old subordinate, so he congratulated Zhang Chang in advance.

However, seeing that Zhang Chang was unhappy, he naturally would not continue to flatter him, but changed the subject and chatted with Zhang Chang about the past.

While the two were chatting, Dugazhi in Guzang City was also becoming discouraged after the long wait.

On the tenth day of April, the thirty-seventh day of the siege of Guzang City, Dugazhi finally accepted his fate.

He no longer put forward any conditions, but chose to surrender directly.

Although there were still tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep in the city, their grass and beans had been eaten up and they could not hold out for much longer.

Compared to holding on to the end, Dugazhi would rather use the few chips in his hand to buy himself a better future.

"The leader of the Umotu tribe... Dugazhi, surrender to the Grand Protector of Longyou!"

At noon on the tenth day, Dugazhi surrendered to the Longyou army with his upper body bare, a bramble on his back and a copper coin in his mouth.

When Liu Jilong arrived, he had been kneeling for fifteen minutes, and two shallow pits had been formed in the ground.

Liu Jilong glanced at it, not sure whether he was lamenting that the ground was too soft or that his knees were too hard.

"Get up."

Liu Jilian signaled him to get up from his horse. Seeing this, Dugazhi got up with the help of several commanders of the Umot tribe.

Several governors untied the brambles for him and put on his clothes, while Liu Jilong said:

"I will petition the court to confer you the title of Xiutu County Man, and give you the rank of Fifth Rank Cavalry Commandant, a mansion in Dangzhou, 500 acres of land, 100 cattle, and 1,000 sheep."

"Your sons and the governors who surrendered will also be awarded the rank of Flying Cavalry Captain, from the sixth rank. Each of them will have a courtyard, a hundred acres of land, twenty cows, and a hundred sheep."

After all, Dugazhi surrendered, and Liu Jilian also needed to use him to appease the Umu people, so it was necessary to give him a title and a rank.

Dangzhou is the most suitable place for monitoring people. It will also be more convenient to monitor them if they are concentrated in Dangzhou.

Compared with the cattle and sheep brought by surrender, the salary and rewards of land, cattle and sheep are not worth mentioning at all.

"The Grand Protector is so kind, I thank you for your kindness!"

Although he wanted to kill Liu Jilong in his heart, in reality, Dugazhi had to kneel down before Liu Jilong and show his submission.

Not only him, but also the more than ten governors of Umo and the dozen children of Dugazhi were the same.

In response, Liu Jilong continued, "By the way, Cheng Le has also been captured. If you have time, you can go and persuade him to surrender."

After saying this, Liu Jilong turned his horse around and left the city gate regardless of their reactions. Dugazhi and others were stunned. They did not expect that Chengle was captured by Liu Jilong.

Although the Uighurs were forced to flee westwards by the Khitans and the Tang Dynasty, they are still a powerful force in other places.

Ganzhou Uighurs, Anxi Uighurs, Tingzhou Uighurs, Xizhou Uighurs...

The Khan of Ganzhou Uighur, one of the four Uighur tribes, was captured in this way. It is no wonder that Chengle was unwilling to surrender.

If he surrendered, he would set an example for other Uighur tribes.

Later, when Liu Jilian went to war against other Uighur tribes, the leaders of the other tribes would think that "surrendering to Liu Jilian was also a way out" because of his title.

Once someone starts, others will follow suit.

Dugazhi secretly sighed that Liu Jilong's methods were vicious, but he couldn't help but sigh and thought that if Liu Jilong hadn't used such methods, they probably wouldn't even have the chance to surrender, let alone the treatment that Liu Jilong had just promised them.

Although those treatments were insignificant compared to their previous status, what qualifications did a defeated general have to ask for treatment?
Dugazhi's ambition was suppressed by Liu Jilian. Not only him, but also the other Umo generals were the same.

After they surrendered, Zhang Chang led his troops into the city. After taking over the city gate, he asked Li Shangyin to lead the military officials to register the people in the city.

Since most of the houses in the city were burned down by Zhang Chang using flour and gunpowder, there was no firewood to burn the bodies of the victims who had died in recent days.

After Zhang Chang entered the city, he immediately ordered the surviving natives in the city to collect the corpses and carry them out of the city to burn them to prevent the spread of plague.

Not only that, after being registered, the Umu people also cleaned up the ruins in Guzang City under his supervision.

Tens of thousands of houses were reduced to ruins. If they were to be rebuilt, at least a large area of forest would have to be cut down.

War destroys not only the peace enjoyed by the people, but also nature and the environment.

"Although felling trees is allowed in Longyou, and there are many trees in southern Liangzhou, felling still needs to be done in moderation."

"For the woods in the south, we ordered people to put up signs and divide them into 20 areas. One area will be opened every year, and the people and government officials are allowed to enter the area to cut down trees."

"On the first day of every month, recruit civilians to go to the south to plant trees, and do not exhaust the fish."

Liu Jilong and Li Shangyin were discussing the vast forests at the foot of the Qilian Mountains in the south. Even if the temperature warmed up in later times, there would be no chance of seeing such a lush green scene anywhere in the Hexi Corridor.

"General Jie's move is far-sighted and I admire you."

Li Shangyin didn't expect that Liu Jilian would even set rules on how to cut down trees, and he couldn't help but admire him.

In fact, it’s not that there were no officials in past dynasties who came up with similar ideas, but because they were too difficult to implement and a thankless task, they did not become a system.

"Yishan, you have been to the Central Plains and Guanzhong. Tell me what the vegetation in Guanzhong and the Central Plains is like. Can you see large tracts of forests?"

Liu Jilong had never been to the Central Plains during that era, so he couldn't help but ask about Li Shangyin.

Li Shangyin nodded upon hearing this, then shook his head and said:
"I have read in many manuscripts that Guanzhong used to be lush and green, with mountains and forests stretching out and huge trees everywhere."

"However, after the wars between the Qin and Han dynasties, there are only a few small woods left in Guanzhong today, and large tracts of woods can only be seen near the Qinling Mountains."

"For example, the giant trees in the mountains and forests of Longyou have long since disappeared from the Qinling Mountains."

“The situation in the Central Plains is not much different from that in Guanzhong. Although there are forests, most of them are small forests and are often cut down.”

In response to what Li Shangyin said, Liu Jilong nodded secretly.

He remembered that the forests in Henan and Hebei began to become sparse since the late Tang Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, people even went from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital in the north without seeing any trees for thousands of miles along the way.

The high level of greening in the Central Plains, Hebei and Jiangnan in later generations was mainly the result of climate change and afforestation policies.

Climate and environment are the main reasons, followed by human factors.

The people needed firewood, but coal was difficult to mine and expensive, so the people could only cut down trees secretly.

The people in the Tang Dynasty were relatively lucky, as there were trees to cut down wherever they went out. But a thousand years later in the Qing Dynasty, when there were no trees for thousands of miles, they could only use straw to make fire and cook.

After the straw is burned, poor families can only eat rice soaked in cold water. Only rich families can eat hot meals.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong remembered the gunpowder in his hand, so he could not help but tell Li Shangyin:
"People cut down trees to make fire and cook."

"Before the government used gunpowder for mining, thousands of workers were needed to go down the mines to mine coal every year, but the annual output was only a few hundred thousand kilograms."

"Today, coal is mined with gunpowder, and only 2,000 workers are employed each year, but nearly one million dan of coal is obtained."

"For one bushel of rice, the common people could buy a load of coal, which could last for half a month without cutting down trees."

One dan is 100 jin, and one million dan is 100 million jin.

It sounds like a lot, but the actual conversion is only more than 50,000 tons, which is only the output of a small coal mine in three to five days in later generations.

Even so, it is enough for more than 400,000 people in Longyou to use throughout the year.

Liu Jilong said this to Li Shangyin mainly to tell him to pay attention to the mining of coal in Liangzhou.

Li Shangyin was not stupid, on the contrary he was very smart, so he immediately responded after Liu Jilong finished speaking:
"General Jie, do you want me to vigorously exploit the mineral resources in Liangzhou?"

"Hmm..." Liu Jilong nodded.
"There are so many people in Liangzhou now, many of whom are Hu and Fan."

"I want you to recruit these young and strong people from the Hufan as workers. There are so many mines in Liangzhou. As long as there are sufficient manpower and material resources, there will be no problem in mining."

"Of course, if there are people in Hankou who want to be workers, that's fine too."

Workers in Longyou are treated well, especially miners.

The annual expenses of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and wages added up to about 15 strings of cash, enough to support a family of five.

Because of this, workers are also in high demand in Longxi and Longnan.

The people who migrated from Guangwu had already lived in Guangwu for nearly a year before the migration, so it was impossible for them not to know the treatment of the workers in Longyou.

Once the Liangzhou government recruited workers, the brave ones would naturally be willing to be workers rather than face the prospect of digging for food from the land.

"That being said, Marshal Jie..."

Li Shangyin hesitated for a moment before bowing and saying, "I have seen many mine accounts when I was in Linzhou."

"In a mine of slightly better quality, each worker can mine gold, silver, coal and iron worth twenty strings of silver per year."

"But in mines of inferior quality, the ore that each worker can mine is barely enough to cover his wages."

"I am worried that the quality of gold, silver, coal and iron in Liangzhou will be poor. By then..."

"I'll cover you when the time comes!" Liu Jilong interrupted Li Shangyin with a smile and personally expressed his support for him.

In this regard, Li Shangyin could only take a deep breath, bow and couldn't help but say:

"Most of the governors and envoys I have seen in the past abuse their power for personal gain. If there are mines in their territory, most of the income goes to the governor, while the workers get very little."

"Only the generals did the opposite, distributing money and food to the workers and taking a small profit, so they lasted long."

"If the world can be governed by a great general, it will be a blessing for the people of the world..."

After spending several years with Liu Jilong, Li Shangyin's mentality gradually turned towards him.

It’s not that Liu Jilong is so charming, but that in this abnormal world, a normal person like Liu Jilong appeared.

If you stay with a bad person for a long time, you will want to lean towards him.

If you stay with normal people for a long time, you will naturally return to normal.

Now Li Shangyin has returned to normal. He no longer supports his so-called Tang Dynasty in his mind, but feels that the world should be governed by a normal person like Liu Jilong.

However, Liu Jilong shook his head regarding his expectations:
"Nowadays, the plates are smaller, so as a dishwasher, I can still clean them very well."

"If the plate gets bigger in the future, it will be hard to clean it..."

Facing Liu Jilong's theory of wiping dishes, Li Shangyin chuckled:

"As long as someone wipes this plate, it will always be clean. It's better than no one wiping it right now, and the plate will become dirty, right?"

"That's true..." Liu Jilong smiled heartily. He was still confident about this.

This era is already so damn dark, even if he messes around again, it can't get any darker, right?

While thinking, Liu Jilong looked up at the Qilian Mountains to the south. Suddenly, something flashed through his mind, and he immediately said:

"The sky is high and the clouds are clear, looking at the geese flying south."

“If you haven’t been to the Great Wall, you are not a true man. The journey is 20,000 kilometers.”

"On the peak of Qilian Mountain, red flags flutter in the west wind."

"Today I have the tassel in my hand, when will I bind the blue dragon?"

(End of this chapter)