The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 213: The Northern Governor's Journey

In March, Lingwu was still cold and windy, but the common people saw snakes and insects appearing and began to prepare for childbirth. The governor Cheng Li also crawled out of the pile of meat of the 31 concubines and supported his weak body to work. He mainly inspected the place to see if there were any lazy people and the progress of spring plowing.

The sages attach great importance to spring ploughing.

Since the reign of King Jingfu, he had used the army several times but not even forced labor. He gave priority to merchants, servants of wealthy families, prisoners, monks, and rogues. As for the imperial edict to supervise agriculture in the Guanfu counties, there were more than a dozen such orders.

The officials were very cooperative and worked hard.

There is no other reason. It is because last year the sage went even further: if cannibalism occurs once in a place, the magistrate will be imprisoned. In his own words, "I only care about this." If this is not done well, it will be useless no matter how well you do other things.

The governor was also afraid that the warriors would starve, so he focused on agriculture when he was in Jing. After being transferred to the north, he lost the pressure and was confident that the sage would not dare to do anything to him, so he had no interest in government affairs. However, the king's order was urgent, and the most basic form had to be implemented. Agriculture and commerce happened to be what he was interested in and good at.

It was a pity that Cheng Li's mind and body had been drained by women. As soon as he rode out of the city gate, he began to sweat. He held his dizzy forehead and felt like he was going to fall off his horse: "I am harmed by women and have become so weak... He threw me into the land of tenderness and wanted to kill me in comfort. The saint has evil intentions. There are three thousand fairies in the harem, and some are a hundred times more beautiful and talented than my wives and concubines. He will definitely walk ahead of me. At that time, he will beat the drums and bang the hats to move the evil spirit away."

When the guest Gongsun Shi, who was riding beside him, heard this, he was furious and pulled his horse: "Your Majesty, how have you failed Cheng Gong? The former governor of Shuofang, Han Zun, was unpredictable and watched the thief Zhu invaded the palace. Later, the emperor issued an edict to reprimand him. The military government was afraid, so they arrested Zun and executed him, and destroyed his entire family!"

Cheng Li looked depressed and unhappy. He paused and sighed, "Forget it, let's have a barbecue first. Confucius said, if you are full all day, you will have nothing to do... Is it difficult? Not necessarily." He then announced the names of the dishes: "Young deer, leeks, mare's milk, butter, lamb, mulberry juice, old turtle..."

Gongsun Shi was so angry that he cried out: "Oh my God, why are you so depressed!"

Cheng Li was silent for a while after hearing this, then sighed, "Forget it... Let me tell you a fortune first. Taoist Xu, please ask the ghost for me what position I will hold in this life and when I will die."

He won't do stupid things that would involve working hard but not getting anything in return or waiting for any reward!

Taoist Xu, who was riding an attendant, dismounted from his horse and asked the ghost on the roadside.

Cheng Li kept silent, and forced himself to be serious.

After a while, Taoist Xu's expression became solemn, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Strange, it's strange..."

Cheng Li's eyebrows raised, and he suddenly became nervous: "Ghost, what did the ghost say?"

"The ghost said, if things are not pure, the children will all rebel. On the contrary, they should assist in governing. The King of Liang who follows the dragon will live to be eighty-eight."

"Ah!" Cheng Li's face turned pale with fear, but he couldn't help but turn to joy after hearing the latter part, and hurriedly asked: "Which King of Liang? Zhu Quanzhong? Could it be that the Holy Tang Dynasty will eventually be replaced by this man?" He patted his horse's back in pain and sighed to the sky: "I knew it should be before Feng Xing attacked Bian. Li Ting, Zheng Zhun, and Lu Yanrang misled me! I was so stupid, really, I listened to the slander of the three thieves."

Gongsun Shi, who was standing next to him, covered his face with his hands. "This is the King of Liang, Xiao Zi. The Privy Councilor's surname is Zhao, his taboo name is Ruxin, and he is from Tianshui. He got Zhengyang, and Princess Zhao loved him, so she sent him to be fostered by Taoist Li, Nuguan Xiao and others at Xuandu Temple in Chang'an, hoping for their protection. People in the temple and among the people call him Xiao Zi, Gu Shi, and Li Jia Ren. When he turned one year old, he was named the King of Liang."

After hearing what Gongsun Shi said, Cheng Li was stunned for a moment, then he patted his chest and said with lingering fear: "It turned out to be the Holy Son... I thought Zhu Quanzhong was a bastard! Xiao Zi is still a child, how could the devil attribute my career and life to him?"

Gongsun Shi gave his lord a strange look.

As a prefect, he is indifferent to the court and the palace, and has no basic understanding of them, yet he keeps muttering about the Three Dukes all day long!
"The Privy Councilor is the most favored. Whenever the emperor goes out, he will entrust him with household affairs and imperial edicts. The Privy Councilor is sharp-minded, sits in the court, and makes reports and statements without any omissions. The emperor relies on him and loves him deeply. His brothers Fu, Jia, En, Hui, and Cun have also made great contributions. The court and the public say that they are the legacy of the Wei family. If he does not go astray, there is a high possibility that Xiao Ziyuan will be made the crown prince after his service. What Gui said is quite accurate."

Cheng Li was half-believing and half-doubting. He subconsciously felt that the two were trying to persuade and please him. How old is Xiao Zicai? Who can tell! But he didn't have the courage to deny the ghost's words. He would find a strange Taoist priest to ask again another day. If he really has the hope of ruling the world, this governor must do a good job.

That's how the times were.

Wang Jian was examined by the monk once and said: "This is incredible. You have a light coming out of your crown, and you have a body of muscular strength at a young age. You are a martial arts genius that only appears once in a century. The task of maintaining world peace is now entrusted to you!" Wang Jian turned around and joined the army according to the instructions.

Liu Zong, the governor of Youzhou, was frightened mad by a "ghost". Gao Pian used alchemists to rule Wu. Cheng Li was also a fanatic of theology and cultivation of immortals. In his later years, he hung out with demons every day and drank "immortal medicine" several times - "resurrected from near death". He would also ask ghosts when marching and fighting. He was immersed in it and never tired of it.

Sure enough, after asking the ghost, Cheng Li, who felt that he had a goal to achieve, stopped being upset. He shook his shoulders, tossed his head, and rushed out on horseback. He pointed to the Yellow River on the side of the road and nodded at the city wall: "Do you know the origin of Lingzhou? The orioles are singing on the island in the river. The gentlemen are looking for a beautiful lady. The habitable land in the water is called an island. Because the water level of the river fluctuates but has never been flooded, this island was called Lingzhou during the reign of Emperor Xiaohui, and Lingzhou County was built, belonging to Beidi County. Ling means agile. After many changes in the Northern Dynasties and the current emperor, it is now Lingwu County. I only read about it in books when I was young, but I didn't expect that one day I would travel from Qingzhou to Jingchu, and then drift here to become the governor of this lonely city... Things in the world are unpredictable."

"Cheng Gong is very knowledgeable, Shi cannot compare to him," Gongsun Shi praised.

"Hehe, of course. I come from a family of warriors. If I hadn't been young and reckless, and had killed someone and committed a crime, I would have been forced into exile. I might have been the governor of Zibo and Qinghai. It's a pity that I fell into the hands of Wang Shifan. Alas, his father, Wang Jingwu, has been around for several generations, but he is not as good as me in starting a family."

Thousands of riders rolled across the plain, and wherever their horses’ hooves passed, the sound of rattling voices could be heard.

"Look, the dense peach, plum and mulberry forests on the sandbar are what Helian Bobo left behind."

"The world has changed so much that it has come to this."

"Five hundred years is considered a spring, which is a great year. It is pathetic for us to compete with it, isn't it? Taoist Xu, how is the cultivation technique I asked you to collect going? Forget it, let's not talk about this for now." As far as his eyes could see, Cheng Li put away his carefree attitude.

In the wide farmland under the warm sun, dark-skinned men and women can be seen bending, lifting, and bending everywhere. There are self-cultivators, and unemployed cultivators led by uncles, sisters-in-law, servants, and monks, who are facing the loess and digging with their backs to the sky... The Dangxiang, Tuyuhun, and Turks with pigtails, and the Han people with long hair, are all half-dressed and lifeless. It's the Tang Dynasty, but there are still people using stone sickles and wooden pickaxes...

On the nearby ridges, rows of skinny children were sitting and kicking their legs. When they saw the governor's procession, they all hid in the bushes.

Cheng Li pulled the reins.

He once had some lofty words. He was chivalrous and righteous, he helped the weak and he would speak out when he saw injustice. He also had a vision. He would give a shelter to the poor and make them happy, and ensure that the people in the area would be well-off. But within a few years...

"There are orchards at the foot of the Helan Mountains, and the northern and southern parts of the Great Wall were once famous. Beidi County is blessed by nature, and it is actually not bad." Gongsun Shi explained: "In the neighboring Xinqin and Qingyang counties, when the weather is bad, the Han people and the mixed Hu people all sell their children and daughters, boil wild horse skins, and dig salt mud. Before Jingfu, they were often beaten by warriors for grass and grain, or forced to buy their livestock and horses, and were arrested and sent to the army. It was very miserable." "There are also people who use stone tools and wooden pickaxes. Do you think it's okay?" Cheng Li sneered and pointed the whip at himself: "Are we barbarians who eat raw meat and drink blood, and use slash-and-burn farming? Or have we returned to the Shang and Zhou dynasties? If we don't sell our children and daughters, it would be strange. Do your job well, and others will obey you. This is the truth I understood when I was a fugitive. Han Zun has usurped the throne for many years. Is this how he ruled the northern part of the country?"

All the ironware was used to supply the army, so naturally there was a shortage among the people.

The Youzhou army tortured the people under their rule until they had to make coins out of mud.

Using stone tools is child's play.

"Also, there has never been a shortage of livestock in the border areas of Liang, Ling, Xia and Jin. In the Shuofang corner alone, there are no less than 500,000 camels, cattle, sheep and horses. How come there are still so many people farming their own fields?" Cheng Li was enlightened again.

Gongsun Shi remained silent.

The residential land area of self-cultivating households is not enough.

The area of pastures and grasslands nearby is limited. The military government needs to raise war horses, open training grounds, and breed horses. The big landlords also take up some of it, so there is not much left. There are empty pastures far away, but if it takes a whole day or most of the day to graze cattle, it is not worth it.

They can’t afford to support animal power.

It’s better to rent than to borrow.

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many old men and pregnant women in rural areas who plowed the fields with ropes by themselves, and it was also common for several families to share the support of an animal for working hours.

"Who do these farmers work for?" Cheng Li asked again.

"They are mainly soldiers and generals of the yamen. Their output is not taxed to the military government to feed back the town's finances, nor is it offered to the saint."

Cheng Li was dumbfounded: "Didn't the sage recover Shuofang? I can even be the governor here. Why did he turn a blind eye to it?"

This…

Of the more than 30,000 Shuofang troops, the sage only absorbed a small number of those who were willing to join the court. The rest, who are likely to rebel, the sage does not want to provoke for the time being. Not only Shuofang, but also Qi, Bin, Tong, and Hua, who were violently destroyed, Qianjingyuan, Xiasui, Tiandejun, Liangzhou, Binning, and Fuyan are also in this situation. If you want to return the land to them or collect taxes, you should first prepare for the chaos in Guanzhong and the grain bandits.

Cheng Li's face fell.

"Some of them were self-employed farmers. Some were monks and Taoists. The military government had no choice but to increase their exploitation, so more farmhands and tenants emerged and became dependent on the warriors."

"Where are the monks and Taoists?"

"Uh..." Gongsun Shi was speechless.

Because there are many people who believe in Buddhism and practice Taoism.

——During the Guangqi period, the master was taught to bring great light to all auspicious places. The master returned to my residence and followed him to set up an altar in the Juchang field to receive the response.

——Sir, you perform many Buddhist activities and have a pious temple.

——When war breaks out, we should strictly respect Buddha.

This is only when Han Zun is here.

"This bunch of damn bald donkeys and dog Taoist priests." Cheng Li sighed slightly: "The people of Lingxia can only tolerate it. If it were me, I would have rebelled long ago."

It is a pity that such a fertile area along the Great Wall, with its well-developed rivers, canals, lakes and wetlands, is in such a state of decline and cannot be fully utilized.

If I offend those guys here for this, the saint must support me!

"My lord, this is a time of turmoil and the rebellion is being suppressed. It is not appropriate to take any action." Gongsun Shi saw his expression change and advised.

"Come on! What a crap warrior! It's not like I haven't killed anyone before! I can recruit desperate men alone to seize Zigui, drive out the Cai bandits, and turn the 17-household Jiangling Prefecture into a paradise where everything is revived. I can do it in the north as well. From now on, quit drinking, quit... sex!" Cheng Li gritted his teeth.

"Send an envoy to report to the Saint!"

"First, grant me military authority and the title of militia commander. Allow me to recruit 10,000 soldiers on my own, and the court will provide military supplies. With only my 1,000-plus soldiers, they can only keep me alive and serve as a puppet."

"There are not enough county officials, and too many clerks. We need to send at least five hundred officials."

"We can separate the judicial officers from the prefecture government offices and appoint a separate judicial officer to oversee the legal affairs of the prefecture and county."

"..."

"Master Xu? Ask the ghosts again, will the saint agree to my request? If not, I won't bother to report it. Also, will there be a thief causing chaos in a certain year and month? Ask that too. A Jingzhou and a county are so angry, I don't know how the saint survived, he must have a hard life."

(End of this chapter)