Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 199 What do you want, a bicycle?
The northern part of Chang'an.

The Xingtai Mansion, one of the main buildings in Chang'an City, has been completed, but the members of the Xingtai Mansion have not yet moved in.

The Xingtai Prefecture was headed by a magistrate, a vice minister, and left and right assistant ministers, and was under the jurisdiction of six departments. It was almost modeled after the Three Departments system of the Luoyang court, so to speak, it was small but complete.

"I have already drafted the list that my lord asked me to draft."

Su Chuo was a secretary in the Xingtai Prefecture. Although his rank was not high, he was in charge of drafting documents for the Xingtai Prefecture, which meant he held a low position but great power.

Li Shuang glanced at the list in his hand, which contained the personnel lists for various positions in the Xingtai Mansion.

The list consisted almost entirely of the names of the officials who had followed Li Shuang all the way here.

Yu Jin was appointed Prefect of Shuozhou and concurrently served as Vice Minister of the Administrative Office; Jia Sixie was appointed Left Vice Minister of the Administrative Office; and Wang Sizheng was appointed Right Vice Minister of the Administrative Office.

Below that are the names of officials from various departments, listed in great detail.

Li Shuang glanced at it and returned it to Su Chuo.

"Let's issue the order accordingly!"

"Will Li Daoyuan and his clansmen come?"

"It doesn't matter if they don't accept the conscription."

Li Shuang, however, was quite open-minded and gave the instructions:

"With the Guanzhong region newly pacified, there are only two things to do: set up local militias and build granaries."

The Fubing system was newly established and still in its initial stage, but its basic framework had already been set up. Fubing garrisons had been set up at the water and land transportation hubs of various prefectures and counties in Guanzhong. In case of emergency, the Fubing scattered in the prefectures and counties could be conscripted and assembled in Chang'an.

Su Chuo understood that what truly troubled him was the matter of building granaries.

Li Shuang planned to establish a grain supply system in Guanzhong, among which three large granaries were particularly important. One was built in Huazhou, at the confluence of the Yellow River and the Wei River, named Yongfeng Granary; another was built near Beiyi, Chang'an, named Yongping Granary; and the third was built near Chang'an City, named Yongle Granary.

Su Chuo's concern was not how to build these granaries or how to manage them afterward, but rather what would happen to the grain inside them once they were built.

"My lord, if these three granaries are full, one of them can supply an army of 30,000 for ten years. Is it too hasty to build them now? Should we build the Yongle granary first and postpone the other two?"

A large granary should certainly be built near Chang'an to supply the city. However, Su Chuo felt that the other two were being built too hastily.

Jia Sixie was in charge of agricultural affairs in the entire Guanzhong region, and Li Daoyuan was building new water conservancy projects in Ba Shang. However, these were not things that could be accomplished overnight, and it would take at least several years to see results.

If we repair these granaries but have no grain, wouldn't it be a waste of manpower?

Li Shuang said:
"Repair Yongfeng Granary first!"

"Is there any grain or fodder at Yongfeng Granary?"

"We don't have them here, but Luoyang does!"

"Luoyang?"

Su Chuo still didn't understand. Although Luoyang was the final gathering point of the Central Plains' grain transport and could receive grain from various prefectures and counties in Henan and Hebei, Luoyang would not transport it to Guanzhong!

Li Shuang smiled.

"The world is about to change!"

At this moment, Chang'an is not the future capital of the world, a megacity with a population of one million.

Small cities have their advantages; they have less demand and can be self-sufficient thanks to the Guanzhong Plain.

After the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, why did Li Sanlang urge Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing, and Geshu Han to fight against the rebels? Was he really out of his mind?
Perhaps there was, but at that time, Li Sanlang faced a greater crisis: a political crisis.

As the capital, Chang'an received millions of bushels of grain annually from all over the country to supply millions of officials and civilians. With the rebels blocking Tongguan Pass, the grain could no longer be transported into Guanzhong.

If Chang'an runs out of food, Li Sanlang will face something even more terrifying than An Lushan's rebel army.

The situation is different now; Chang'an can only accommodate a maximum of 200,000 people. Although Guanzhong is poor, it is strong enough to hold its ground thanks to its four strategic passes.

The remaining question was where to get the food.

Su Chuo seemed to understand Li Shuang's meaning, but did not delve into it further, and cupped his hands in greeting:
"Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately!" Not long after Su Chuo left, Hou Jing arrived and whispered in Li Shuang's ear:
"My lord, the Prime Minister has arrived!"

As Erzhu Rong's close attendant, Wang Xiang did many things for Erzhu Rong in a very secretive way. It can be said that his relationship with Erzhu Rong was even closer than that with Erzhu Zhao and other members of the Erzhu clan.

Those who can gain Erzhu Rong's trust must be capable.

After hearing this, Li Shuang went to see Hou Jing.

Wang Xiang was a man from Dai. He was strong and had a spirited face. Upon seeing Li Shuang, he bowed.

"Third Master!"

"No need to be so polite. Did your second brother send you here to give you some instructions?"

Wang Xiang bowed and said:
"Third Master, the Emperor has been assassinated, and the situation in Luoyang is treacherous. My lord has decided to head south to Luoyang."

"With the emperor in distress and treacherous officials in power, my second brother must uphold the government's rule. I will certainly give him my full support."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiang's expression relaxed. Erzhu Rong's biggest worry was that Li Shuang would follow him south. Or, that Li Shuang would take the opportunity to attack Jinyang while he was heading south.

Although the distance between Shangdang and Luoyang is short, the journey from Chang'an to Luoyang is also downstream, making water transport convenient.

Upon hearing Li Shuang's statement, Wang Xiang knew that his mission was more than half accomplished.

“My Lord said that he has not forgotten the oath he made back then. After the matter is accomplished, he will petition the court to bestow the title of King upon the Third Master.”

"We're all brothers, let's not talk about these empty titles. Tell Second Brother that even if he gives me nothing, I'll still support him. After all, we're brothers!"

Wang Xiang was somewhat moved by such sincere words.

"Don't worry, Third Master, I will definitely relay your words to my master!"

"If you need anything, Second Brother, the troops in Guanzhong are at your command at any time."

Hou Jing stepped forward at the opportune moment and said:

"My lord, but at this moment, food supplies in Guanzhong are scarce, I'm afraid..."

"Shut up! What are you talking about, provisions, at a time like this!"

"But our supplies are indeed..."

"Get off!"

Li Shuang dismissed Hou Jing, looked at Wang Xiang, and said:
"I'm sorry you had to see this; the boy is just being silly."

……

More than twenty days have passed since Wang Xiang's trip back and forth.

During this period of time, Erzhu Rong had been recruiting troops. In addition to his own Erzhu clan, he had also gathered elite soldiers and generals from the Heba clan, the Yuwen clan, and the Huai Shuo lineage.

But Erzhu Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief when Wang Xiang returned.

Erzhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu met with Prime Minister Wang together. After listening to his account, Yuan Tianmu smiled and said:
“Tianbao, I’ve told you before, Third Brother is still Third Brother. We’re all brothers, there’s nothing to doubt.”

Erzhu Rong nodded and asked:

"Does Third Brother really not want anything at all?"

"That's exactly what Third Master said!"

Erzhu Rong was still somewhat moved and asked:
"Since my third brother is like this, I, as the second brother, cannot be stingy. Prime Minister Wang, go to Guanzhong and find out what my third brother lacks now?"

"There is a shortage of food supplies in Guanzhong."

Erzhu Rong nodded and gave the instructions:
“Transport 50,000 shi of grain from Jinyang to Pingyang, and after we take Luoyang, transport another 200,000 shi of grain to Shancheng.”

……

(End of this chapter)