White-robed Minister

Chapter 182 0180 [The top scholar needs to personally persuade them]

Of course, the war reports sent to the imperial court wouldn't be so exaggerated.

These were all used to deceive the Han and Qiang soldiers and civilians, to reassure them about trading and farming. Even if they could only deceive them temporarily, it would stabilize their hearts and minds. As they continued to win battles, no one would feel that they had been deceived.

Yu Shanyuan did not come alone; he also brought a student from Shaozhou with him.

The quota for the imperial examinations in Shaozhou was only a fraction of that in Guangzhou. Feeling hopeless about the examinations, the student heard that his teacher, Yu Shanyuan, was going to explore the frontier, so he voluntarily gave up his studies and followed him.

"Sir, is the Magistrate Yang they're talking about the same Yang Jiezhi from the South China Sea that you often mention?" student Huang Zhirou asked.

Yu Shanyuan smiled and nodded: "Indeed. My brother Yang is both a scholar and a warrior. Before he even passed the imperial examination, he had already killed nearly a hundred salt bandits."

Huang Zhirou exclaimed in surprise, "No wonder they are the Twin Phoenixes of Guangzhou!"

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, it was quite common to use the word "dragon" to describe things. For example, "the five dragons of the Dou family".

Gradually, the character for "dragon" appeared less and less, while the character for "phoenix" appeared more and more: Jingmen Three Phoenixes, Chen Family Three Phoenixes, Hanlin Five Phoenixes, and so on.

It's unclear who first suggested it, but Xu Lai and Yang Shu were collectively known as the "Twin Phoenixes of Guangzhou." This was because they were both very young and had both passed the imperial examinations. For many years, no two people from any of Guangzhou's counties had simultaneously passed the examinations.

If they achieve great success in the Northwest, they will likely become the "Twin Phoenixes of Guangdong" and the "Twin Phoenixes of Lingnan" in just a few years.

The teacher and student wandered around the market for a while before arriving at the gate of Guwei Village.

Even in broad daylight, one cannot freely enter or leave the fortress. The gatekeeper immediately stopped the two men: "You two, stop here. You may enter by showing any one of these: an official pass, an official document, a public certificate, or a public voucher."

Yu Shanyuan had nothing on him, but he pulled out a private letter: "Xu Zhijun invited me here, and this is a private letter he wrote himself."

The gatekeepers dared not delay and sent one of them inside.

Yu Shanyuan observed the situation along the way and found it to be more "prosperous" than he had imagined.

Some daring merchants, seeing the prosperity of the village, were willing to rent or buy shops within its walls. The number of shops has rapidly increased to over twenty.

The gatekeeper leading the way pointed ahead and said, "That used to be the main hall of Guwei Village, but now it's the Tongyuan Military Headquarters. The buildings on both sides are newly built; the left one is the signing hall, and the right one is the six departments of the military headquarters."

These government offices were extremely simple, consisting of just a row of rammed earth bungalows with roofs covered in local ceramic tiles.

After the clerk announced his arrival, Xu Lai quickly came out to greet him personally, laughing heartily, "Brother Ti Ren, I knew you would come!"

"With both of my virtuous brothers here, how could I, though unworthy, be absent from this grand gathering?" Yu Shanyuan introduced, "This is my student from the Shaozhou Prefectural School, named Huang Zhirou, courtesy name Shoujian."

Huang Zhirou was quite excited and quickly bowed, saying, "This junior, Huang Zhirou, greets Commander Xu!"

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Anyone willing to come to the borderlands must be a fine young man. As long as you work diligently, you need not worry about your future."

"I am willing to follow Zhijun to expand our territory and make great achievements!" Huang Zhirou immediately expressed her opinion.

Xu Lai's place is still a makeshift operation.

The "army" is an administrative unit at the same level as a state, but in its early days, its organizational structure was extremely simple.

There are currently only four civil officials here: the military commander, the judge, the registrar, and the judge.

Forget about a complete system of judges and investigators, even the six ministries of officials are incomplete. There isn't a single county under its jurisdiction, but there are a ton of fortified villages.

The judge was, of course, Hou Ke.

The military advisor was named Lian Ding, courtesy name Gongquan, and was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the last year of the Jiayou era.

This man had a very miserable life; after four years in office, he was still a county magistrate. He was introduced to Zhang Heng by Zhang Dun, who then recommended him to the emperor, which gave him the opportunity to be promoted to the position of Registrar of Tongyuan Army.

Zhang Dun was Lian Ding's fellow townsman, classmate, and fellow student.

The military advisor was named Zhou Kuo, courtesy name Hongfu, and he and Xu Lai were both Jinshi graduates of the same cohort.

This person was unknown; after reminiscing about their time together, Xu Lai had no recollection of him, only a vague memory that such a person existed.

Xu Lai pulled Yu Shanyuan and Huang Zhirou to the Revenue Department office to see Lian Ding: "Gongquan, these two are my fellow townsmen. Yu Shanyuan's courtesy name is Ren. Huang Zhirou's courtesy name is Shoujian. They came from Guangdong, thousands of miles away, to serve the country."

Upon hearing that he was from the same hometown as Xu Lai, Lian Ding quickly bowed, and the two exchanged greetings.

Previously, Hou Ke was in charge of the border market, then it was handed over to Lian Ding, and now it has been transferred to Yu Shanyuan. From now on, if anything happens at the border market, Yu Shanyuan will report to Lian Ding, who will then report to Hou Ke.

As for Huang Zhirou, Xu Lai assigned her to work as a clerk under Lian Ding.

That evening, Xu Lai had a private drink with two fellow villagers and gave them a detailed account of the current situation of the Tongyuan Army.

The population is still insufficient, and we cannot be self-sufficient in food!

The following day, Yu Shanyuan officially took office and was put in charge of managing the border trade market.

He was from the same hometown as Xu Lai, and his subordinates dared not openly disobey him. He himself had served as a clerk and advisor, and he would soon find out who was outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant. He believed that Yu Shanyuan would be able to subdue him successfully.

Xu Lai was completely reassured about the border market and rode his horse to inspect the surrounding river valleys and terraces.

The first batch of spring-sown millet seedlings have already sprouted three or four inches from the soil, their lush green color quite lovely.

The archers and tenants continued to cultivate the land. However, they were short-handed and could not even finish cultivating the tax-exempt military fields, and large tracts of wasteland along the river remained uncultivated.

"Tap tap tap!"

Wang Shao returned on horseback from the west, beaming with joy, and told Xu, "I have persuaded the Shuyang tribe to surrender their territory."

"Really?" Xu Lai was overjoyed.

The Shuyang tribe was a branch of the Weiyuan Qiang, nominally subordinate to the Yulongke tribe, located between the territories of Xulai and Muzheng. If a war broke out, this tribe would be the first to suffer and would have to quickly choose a side to submit to.

Historically, before Wang Shao even came to open up the border, Hou Ke, this little old man, stepped forward and single-handedly persuaded the Shuyang tribe to submit, and built the Shuyang Village there.

Xu Lai asked, "The Shuyang tribe belongs to Yu Longke's forces. Now that they have submitted to the imperial court, will Yu Longke react too strongly?"

'

Wang Shao said, "Yu Longke is definitely unhappy. But he's made several times more money trading with us than before, so he can only accept it reluctantly."

"We still need to send some gifts to express our willingness to befriend him," Xu Lai instructed. "Take the gifts to visit Yu Longke, but don't try to persuade him to submit for now. We'll talk about it after we've finished building Shuyang Village."

When Wang Shao was ordered to deliver gifts, Xu Lai wrote letters to the rear chieftains of Qinzhou and Tongyuan Army.

The letter conveyed the same message: anyone who wanted to make a contribution should volunteer to lead the Moxia archers to build Shuyang Village and stay there to garrison (the newly opened front line).

To the south of Ningyuan Village (Wushan), there is a village called Weiyuan Village.

After receiving Xu Lai's letter, Liu Changzuo sat quietly in the village hall, deep in thought.

He was from Zhending, Hebei. His wife and children were settled in Qinzhou City, so he had no reason to miss Weiyuan Village.

If Liu Changzuo stays here, he can also get a share of the profits from the salt smuggling tax. Moreover, it's very safe, since it's far from the front lines.

But he didn't want to stay cooped up in Weiyuan Village forever. Besides farming, he also led his soldiers to cut timber.

I'm so bored I can't stand it anymore!

So what if he goes to the front lines? He's eager to kill enemies and earn merit.

Historically, the Western Xia and Mu Zheng joined forces but were repeatedly defeated by Wang Shao. The Western Xia army then crossed mountains and valleys, with tens of thousands of cavalrymen heading straight for Qinzhou City, and even capturing Liugou Fort along the way.

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At the time, Wang Shao was fighting Mu Zheng, leaving Qin Prefecture with few troops. Liu Changzuo led two thousand cavalry to their aid, but they were ambushed by the Western Xia army.

Two thousand cavalrymen faced ten thousand, and they were ambushed. Liu Changzuo killed the enemy commander with an arrow, then led his troops in a charge, routing the Western Xia army!

Such a person is restless. Xu Lai asked the village chiefs to sign up themselves, which immediately inspired Liu Changzuo's ambition to make a name for himself.

May.

Xu Lai transferred Liu Changzuo and 80 mounted archers from his command. He also transferred a total of 170 mounted archers from Baisha Village, Baijia Village, and Gongmen Village. He ordered them all to move west and lead the laborers to build Shuyang Village.

Mu Zheng was greatly alarmed.

Because the newly built Shuyang Village by the Song army was only about 10 miles away from the border of his territory.

He immediately sent a blind man to contact Yu Longke.

Xia Yao arrived at Yu Longke's lair and got straight to the point: "Brother, Mu Zheng invited you to attack the Song army together, and also said that he wanted to go to Xixia to ask for reinforcements."

"I understand," Yu Longke said.

The blind man asked, "The Shuyang tribe used to be under your control, but now they've switched allegiance to the Song state. What are you thinking? If you're going to fight, then fight; if you're going to surrender, then surrender. Why are you neither fighting nor surrendering? What does this mean?"

Yu Longke said, "Let me think about it some more."

Yu Longke really didn't want to fight.

Especially after the establishment of the border market in Guwei Village, he was able to make a lot of money through trade and acquire all sorts of good things from the Song Dynasty. Once war breaks out, all that money will be gone.

The Song army came to poach his loyal customers, taking away the Shuyang (cooked sheep) division, which naturally angered Yu Longke. However, compared to the profits from the trade, losing the Shuyang division seemed insignificant.

This guy is typically indecisive, and he wants both.

He wanted both the profits from the trade and the desire to maintain his independence. Knowing full well that the Song army would target him first once it grew stronger, Yu Longke still intended to maintain the status quo.

Yu Longke remained inactive, allowing the Song army to build the Shuyang Village, while he spent his days engrossed in counting the profits from the money exchange.

Since he was unwilling to send troops, Mu Zheng dared not act rashly and could only seek help from the Western Xia.

The Western Xia made a move.

The Western Xia conscripted laborers and supplies to build a city in what would later become Dingxi City, which was only fifty li away from the fortress where Yang Shu won the battle. Furthermore, they named this city "West Market".

Why was Dingxi later called Dingxi? It's because of the "West Market City" that was conquered by the Western Xia!

The states of Song and Xia are now in a peculiar state.

Neither fighting nor making peace, both sides are frantically building fortifications along the border.

Wang Shao returned to Yu Longke's territory, bringing with him the third batch of gifts Xu Lai had sent this year.

Wang Shao asked the same question as the blind man: "What exactly are your plans?"

Yu Longke couldn't answer, because he himself didn't know.

Wang Shao asked again, "How many troops do you have?"

Yu Longke said irritably, "We used to have 130,000 followers. After you robbed the Shuyang tribe, we only have 120,000 left. I haven't even asked you for the Shuyang tribe back yet, and you're already asking me these things!"

Wang Shao said, "The current emperor of the Great Song Dynasty is valiant and decisive, determined to expand the territory, and has even sent his most favored top scholar. Can you withstand the mighty army of the Great Song?"

Yu Longke remained silent.

Wang Shao then asked, "After the completion of Shuyang Village, with the Song army's strength greatly enhanced, who do you think will be the first target?"

Yu Longke thought to himself: Of course, they'll hit me.

Wang Shao demanded, "Can you defeat the Song Dynasty's heavenly army? Surrender now and you'll be guaranteed wealth and honor. But if you wait for their arrival, what will you do then?"

Yu Longke asked, "If I submit to the Song Dynasty, how about allowing me to continue ruling my current territory?"

"Of course," Wang Shao said, "but in some places, the Song Dynasty will send troops to build fortresses. You will also need to hand over some of your poor tribesmen to the banks of the Wei River to reclaim wasteland with the Han people."

Yu Longke then asked, "Do you keep your word?"

Wang Shao was both amused and exasperated: "Of course I keep my word."

Yu Longke shook his head: "I don't believe it. That top scholar from Guwei Village must come to me in person before I will believe your sincerity."

Wang Shao was furious: "A scholar who has achieved the highest rank in the imperial examinations, a man of great wealth and status, do you think you can summon him at will?"

"I need to think about it some more," Yu Longke said, still hesitant.

He feared that if he submitted to the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would suddenly turn against him, and he would lose everything he had now.

He would only believe the Song Dynasty's promise if the highest-ranking officer of the Tongyuan Army came in person to persuade him to surrender.