Tang Dynasty Swordsman.

Chapter Six: Salt Administration of the Prefecture

Li Ding said that Li Chao had come to see him first about salt. Upon hearing this, Ban Hong feigned sudden understanding. Li Ji, however, had no knowledge of salt administration, so he turned his questioning gaze to Ban Hong. Ban Hong smiled and explained, "Does the Commander know where the salt we eat comes from?"

Please advise.

"You should know that Puzhou in Hedong is rich in high-quality salt, but only a small amount is supplied to Guanzhong, because Guanzhong also has many salt wells and salt ponds. For example, Fuping County in Jingzhao Prefecture, Liyang County in Huazhou, Fengxian County and Chaoyi County in Tongzhou..."

Li Ding coughed, meaning you've gone off on a tangent.

Ban Hong then hurriedly got to the point: "The salt of Fengxiang Prefecture mainly comes from Qin Prefecture in the west, and there are salt wells in Changdao County. In addition, Ling Prefecture, Yan Prefecture, and Xia Prefecture also produce salt..."

The states he mentioned, when connected, form a semicircle, and the center of the circle is… Li Ji immediately understood and asked, “Qingzhou has no salt?”

Ban Hong nodded and said, "Not only Qingzhou, but also Jing, Ning and Bin have no salt."

The Hu people of Longshang were mainly located in these few prefectures, where no salt was produced, and all salt had to be imported from other prefectures.

Li Ji then asked, "Where did the Dangxiang and other barbarian tribes obtain salt in previous years?"

Before Ban Hong could answer, Li Ding explained, "At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, we followed the Sui Dynasty's policies and did not impose salt taxes..."

In the early Tang Dynasty, there was no salt monopoly system, and salt producers were essentially registered households, only permitted to use salt to partially replace grain taxes. After Emperor Gaozong's reign, supervisors were first appointed at several large salt fields in Hedong and Guanzhong regions to supply the capital and border garrisons, ensuring no shortages. During the Tianbao era, local governments were allowed to manage and collect salt taxes independently to supplement agricultural taxes.

Until the first year of the Qianyuan era, due to financial difficulties, the Tang Dynasty established the Salt and Iron Commissioner, who was directly under the central government, to manage the salt and iron monopoly. The first Salt and Iron Commissioner was Wu Qi and Wu Yugui.

It seems that Li Ding was quite disgusted with Wu Qi's salt monopoly system. He said, "Separating salt producers from registered households disrupts the national household registration system; preventing others from privately producing salt cuts off the livelihoods of many people; establishing officials to supervise the production inevitably leads to the problem of redundant staff; and the government's monopoly further isolates merchants. As a result, people in salt-producing prefectures are often forced to buy salt, while those in prefectures that do not produce salt wait for the government's salt supply and suffer from bland food all year round... Wu Qi only knows how to amass wealth, which is truly detrimental to the Tang government, just like Sang Hongyang of the Former Han Dynasty!"

Li Ji finally managed to get a chance to ask again during the pause: "Where did the Hu people get their salt in previous years?"

Li Ding, after rambling on for a while, finally brought the conversation back on track: "Before the Fifth Emperor Yu Gui changed the salt laws, the salt was naturally supplied by merchants; after the changes, the salt officials of each salt pond and well were in charge of coordinating the supply and distributing it to the various prefectures and armies, which then allocated it to the provinces and armies. The salt from Jing, Bin, and Ning prefectures was previously dispatched by Qin Prefecture; the salt from Qing Prefecture was dispatched by Yan Prefecture."

Upon hearing this, Li Ji became even more puzzled and hurriedly asked, "Then why don't the Dangxiang people go to Yanzhou to ask for salt, but instead come to Fengxiang to beg for it?"

Li Ding laughed and said, "Shuofang is a bottomless pit!"

The Shuofang military governor was stationed in Lingzhou, and his jurisdiction included the Shanyu Grand Protectorate, six prefectures (Xia, Yan, Sui, Yin, Feng, and Sheng), two armies (Dingyuan and Feng'an), and three surrendered cities. The Shuofang army was originally slated to have 64,700 men and 4,300 horses, but due to the needs of the suppression of the rebellion, it was constantly expanded and now probably numbered no less than 100,000.

Of course, the figure of 100,000 is a figurative number. No one knows exactly how much of that was paid without actually working. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been less than 20,000 Shuofang troops under the command of Pugu Huaien, who were defending Heyang from Li Guangbi.

Whether it's real or not, the grain and fodder allocation should be calculated at around 100,000 units. However, all the prefectures under Shuofang's jurisdiction are barren and have sparse populations, so they simply cannot produce that much grain. In addition, according to custom, the court should also distribute military uniforms and cloth every year, but under the current circumstances, the court simply cannot afford it... Therefore, it is permitted to supply all the salt produced in Ling, Yan, You, Xia, Feng and other prefectures to Shuofang, so that they can exchange the salt for grain and cloth themselves.

Even so, the Shuofang Army still complained to the court about being poor every year. Under such circumstances, it was highly unlikely that they would share some salt with the Hu tribes in Qing and Jing prefectures.

Upon hearing Li Ding's explanation, Li Ji immediately waved his hand and said, "Although I have not consulted the old records, I know that since the salt from Qinzhou still needs to supply the Binning Army, then Fengxiang must also be in short supply. How can we supply the barbarians?"

Ban Hong interjected, "What if the Dangxiang people purchased salt from Fengxiang Prefecture?"

Li Ji curled his lip: "If it's not a free gift, but a purchase, then they can simply go to Shuofang to sell it."

Shuofang certainly has a surplus of salt, which is precisely what they need to trade for grain, cloth, and other goods. There's a market and demand, so isn't that much more convenient than buying salt from us?

Li Ding smiled and said, "I just used the same thing to question Tuoba Chaoxian..."

Li Chaoxian replied that the Shuofang army had already opened up trade routes with the Uyghurs, and large quantities of salt were being transported to the grasslands. There was probably not much left for the Qing and Jing tribes, so his brother had no choice but to send him to Fengxiang Prefecture to plead with Li Ding.

After listening, Li Ji pondered for a moment, stroked his beard, and slowly said, "I'm afraid that's not their true intention. They're probably trying to coerce me..."

Fighting north from Qingzhou is extremely unprofitable, as the vast lands are sparsely populated and offer little opportunity for plunder. Therefore, if the Dangxiang Qiang want to raid people and supplies, they will have no choice but to continue their previous strategy: attacking Fuyan to the east, or heading south through Binning, or perhaps bypassing Jingzhou to attack Fengxiang Prefecture. At this point, requesting the sale of salt from Fengxiang Prefecture would be tantamount to haggling with a knife in hand…

Li Ding sighed softly and said, "What Erlang said is true, and I know that, but... it's really inconvenient for me to refuse..."

If you close the door to trade and resolutely refuse to sell salt, the Hu people will lack salt and will surely cause trouble again. When they raise an army again, our troops and food will be exhausted and it will be very difficult to resist. "I am especially afraid that the barbarian bandits will invade Longyou again this autumn... We must temporarily stabilize the Hu people in Longyou and wait for the barbarian bandits to retreat, or for our army to recover its strength."

Li Ji apologized sadly, saying, "It is my fault for poor command, which has put the commander in a difficult position..."

He currently commands less than five thousand soldiers, whose quality is still quite poor. Even after more than a month of training, the results are not significant. If the various Hu tribes of Longxi were to take another risk and gather fifty or sixty thousand, or even more—and if the Tuoba tribe were to join them, the number would certainly be considerable—he would have no chance of winning in open battle. Unless he could train his five thousand Fengxiang soldiers to be as elite as the Fuyan army, but even then, if the entire army were to attack, who would defend the city?

Li Ding waved his hand, comforting Li Ji, "It's not that I don't know about military affairs. It's really difficult for Erlang to lead such a weak army like the Fengxiang Army. Besides, even if Erlang has the talent for wind and musical instruments, it's not something that can be mastered in a few months—it's not Erlang's fault." He paused, then gritted his teeth and said, "The fault lies with Binning!"

The Binning and Fuyan armies were originally established to guard against the various Hu tribes in Longxi. However, Jingzhou is located west of Binning's defense zone, and the Hu tribes from Qingzhou invaded southwards through this area. The Binning army was unable to stop them and instead shifted all the responsibility to Fengxiang. This is outrageous!

Li Ji sighed, "Alas, Binning has no leader..."

The military governor of Binning was Prince Zhao, Li Si, the eleventh son of Li Heng, and only fourteen years old… It's obvious he couldn't actually lead troops like Li Tan; it was just a nominal position, a leisurely residence in Chang'an. Besides, Binning had two deputy military governors. One was Guo Ziyi, who had briefly been stationed in Binzhou, but was soon ordered to march directly from Shuofang to Fanyang and pacify Hebei. The old general then went to Lingzhou to oversee the campaign. This plan was ultimately thwarted by Yu Chaoen, and Guo Ziyi had already reported back; it's unknown whether he had even reached Chang'an yet…

Another was Sang Rugui, the prefect of Binzhou, who also served as the deputy military governor of Binning. He was mainly responsible for civil administration and was not very good at fighting.

The Danyan Army of Fufang also lacked a military governor, with only the deputy military governor, Du Mian, residing there, who was also a scholar…

Li Jizhen felt that the emperor's bizarre actions were utterly baffling... Since he knew the Hu tribes in Longxi might become a problem, and established the two garrisons of Binning and Fuyan, shouldn't he at least have left behind a capable general? If he feared Guo Ziyi's growing power would be difficult to control, then let him lead one garrison; it would be better than giving him the empty title of deputy commander of two garrisons. First, he confined him to Chang'an, preventing him from leading troops, and then he sent him to Binzhou just to intimidate the Hu tribes...

Li Ding sighed, "Therefore, there is no other way but to grant Tuoba's request."

Ban Hong blinked thoughtfully beside him and reminded him, "Did Tuoba Chaoguang come to request salt with the intention of controlling the various Hu tribes in order to become the dominant power?"

Li Ding and Li Ji frowned almost simultaneously: "You are right!"

Recently, the various Hu tribes have been unable to obtain salt. Since salt is sold by the government, merchants have almost stopped trading. After most of the Hu tribes rebelled, local salt officials no longer actively transport salt to the Hu. If the Tuoba tribe could seize this opportunity to obtain a channel for salt, they could take this opportunity to either bribe or coerce the other tribes, and gradually grow into the leader of the Hu!

Li Ji hurriedly said, "The various barbarian tribes are divided and leaderless, and our Tang Dynasty can still control them. However, if they unite as one, it will be difficult to control them and they will surely cause a great disaster!"

Li Ding casually picked up a palm-leaf fan from the table and fanned himself for a long time before finally saying slowly, "Only he can... Commanding the various Hu tribes is not something that can be accomplished in a day. Before that, I must first have the power to counterattack." If the Fengxiang army is capable, or if the Binning army gains a capable general, then even without the assistance of the Fuyan army, they can interrupt Li Chaoguang's process of unifying the various Hu tribes at any time and eliminate his ambition. Otherwise, even if he is not given salt, he may still have other opportunities.

For example, by using the Tang family's refusal to supply salt as an excuse, and by raising a large banner, it is possible to gather all the Hu people together in one place.

Li Ji was at a loss and could only grit his teeth in silence: I'll remember this debt! He turned to Ban Hong and asked, "How much salt is left in the manor?"

Ban Hong replied, "Not much, less than a thousand bushels. However, the commander can send a letter to the Qinzhou prefecture to request additional supplies..." As he spoke, he looked at Li Ding and said, "There is certainly much to be done in this matter."

Li Ding nodded knowingly: "My Fengxiang Prefecture was previously attacked by bandits, so we should train our troops to protect the western capital. We have recruited 30,000 soldiers, but we do not have enough money and food, so we can only rely on salt."

"It is best to be vague and not give the remonstrating officials any ammunition."

Li Ding nodded: "I know. Then I will leave the matter of trading with the Dangxiang to you, Ban Jun. I don't want any of the special products from Qiangzhong, I only want cattle and sheep, which can relieve the famine in the prefecture."

Li Ji also suggested: "I wonder how the harvest is in Shannan this autumn. Since the military governor is in charge of Xingzhou and Fengzhou, we can try to buy wheat and grain from the south with cattle and sheep." Because the sheep from Longshang are quite famous, with plump and delicious meat, while the western part of Shannan does not produce good sheep.

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That autumn, the harvests in Fengxiang, Qin, and Long prefectures were indeed very poor. Fortunately, Ban Hong obtained three to four thousand bushels of salt from the Changdao Saltworks and traded a lot of cattle and sheep—mainly meat sheep—with the Dangxiang Qiang Tuoba tribe, intending to transport them south to Shannan West Road and even Shannan East Road in exchange for some grain to eat.

After careful consideration, there is still a shortfall, but it should be manageable until the turn of next spring or summer.

Of course, this is all on the premise that nothing else goes wrong this winter.

However, as Li Ji, Li Ding and others had predicted, in September, Ma Chongying, the Tubo Grand Master, led a large army to invade Longyou.

The fast horse galloped into Fengxiang City at the end of September. When Li Ji saw the envoy from Longyou, his face looked familiar—wasn't that Jia Huai?

Li Tan knew that Li Ji was in Fengxiang Prefecture, which is why he sent Jia Huai to ask Li Ji to help him speak to Li Ding through their acquaintance.

Therefore, Jia Huai first visited Li Ji, and his first words upon meeting him were: "The situation in Shanzhou is very bad!"

Li Tan held firm in Longyou, suffering repeated defeats, but the imperial court not only failed to send a single soldier to reinforce him, but recently even the two prefectures of Qin and Cheng were placed under the jurisdiction of the Fengxiang military governor. In addition, the southern part of Longyou—Shan, Kuo, Lan, and Wei prefectures—was also suffering from famine this year, resulting in a significant decline in his military strength.

It is not as good as when Li Ji first arrived in Longyou.

In contrast, Ma Chongying had a thorough understanding of the situation in Guandong this time. He knew that the main force of the Tang army was still tied down in the Henan region and that Longyou could not receive large-scale reinforcements. Moreover, after last year's feigned attack on Linfan City, he had a pretty good grasp of the Tang army's deployment in Shanzhou. Therefore, this time he personally led an army of 60,000 to 70,000 to invade Longyou again, and his momentum was extremely arrogant.

Li Tan ordered Jia Huai to come and pay his respects to Li Ding, and made three requests: first, he hoped that some military provisions could be supplied to Longyou; second, he hoped that troops from Qin and Cheng prefectures could be mobilized to assist in the defense of Shanzhou; and third, he asked to borrow Li Ji for use.

Li Ji brought Jia Huai to see Li Ding and reported everything in detail. Li Ding naturally wouldn't give an immediate answer. As usual, he first sent Jia Huai away to rest, and then invited Li Ji and Ban Hong to have dinner together, where they discussed the matter.

Li Ji naturally hoped that Li Ding would accept all of Longyou's requests. However... the first request would not be approved. Ban Hong said, "Fengxiang Prefecture and its subordinate prefectures are all short of grain. Even if they wanted to use cattle and sheep from Qiangzhong to trade for rice and grain in Shannan, they would still be en route. How could they possibly have the resources to support Longyou?"

Li Ji emphasized the importance of Shanzhou: "If Shanzhou is lost, Lanzhou and Weizhou will also be indefensible, and Qinzhou and Chengzhou will surely fall to the enemy; moreover, the barbarian bandits may threaten Liangzhou, cut off Hexi, and leave the Western Regions isolated outside of China... Commander, we must save it!"

Li Ding shook his head: "How could I not know what you said, Erlang? But I am truly powerless to help." He paused, then said: "King Qi wants to mobilize troops from Qin and Cheng provinces. Since they are of no use to me for the time being, I will grant his request—but the soldiers guarding the salt fields along the long road cannot be separated from their men and horses!"

As for temporarily borrowing Li Ji, Li Ding was even more displeased: "Second Brother is a sixth-rank official, appointed by the Emperor to guard Fengxiang. How can he be borrowed without authorization?"

In these times, if we were to rank officials by their rank, those of the sixth or seventh rank would be considered mid-level bureaucrats, while those of the fifth rank and above would be high-ranking officials, capable of serving as governors in the provinces or ministers in the provinces. So, he's not a low-ranking clerk, so how could there be any reason for him to be privately transferred? If you, Li Tan, want him, go to Chang'an and compete for him yourself.

"Moreover, Erlang is training troops in Fengxiang and also has to deal with the various Hu tribes in Longxi. How can he abandon me?"

Chapter Seven, Left and Right Supporting Each Other

Li Ji repeatedly pleaded for a trip to Longyou in the near future, but Li Ding resolutely refused, leaving Li Ji with no other options. Ultimately, of the three requests made by Li Tan, Li Ding only agreed to one, and Jia Huai left dejectedly. Before his departure, Li Ji instructed him: "Please have His Highness Prince Qi keep Fengxiang Prefecture informed of the situation at the front, in case of any unforeseen circumstances..."

A few days after Jia Huai left, an urgent report arrived. The Tibetan army launched a fierce attack on Linfan City. No matter how capable Hun Rijin was, he was ultimately outnumbered and short of supplies. After holding out for twelve days, Linfan City fell, and no fewer than a thousand Tang soldiers died. Fortunately, although Hun Rijin was seriously wounded, he managed to escape with his life.

Hun Rijin's steadfast defense gave Li Tan and Hun Shizhi time to relocate the residents of Shancheng. Shancheng, which Guo Xin had been defending so hard, was ultimately forced to be abandoned... The Tibetan army then advanced to Xiaoxiakou, where Guo Xin and Li Yuanzhong used the treacherous terrain to hold out desperately.

After occupying Shancheng, Ma Chongying divided his troops to move north and south, bringing the entire western part of Shanzhou under his control. Furthermore, the Tibetan army even invaded Kuozhou in the south and besieged Dahua City.

The situation in Longyou was now extremely precarious.

Li Ji hurriedly went to see Li Ding and requested permission to lead troops westward.

Of course, he knew that Li Ding wouldn't let him go to reinforce Shanzhou. Besides, with only a few thousand weak soldiers under his command, going there would be useless; it would just be sending them to their deaths. Li Ji simply stated, "If Shanzhou falls, the barbarian bandits can advance straight down the Huangshui River and reach Jincheng. I was previously in Longyou when I learned that His Highness Prince Qi was gradually transferring troops from the rear to the front lines. Although Jincheng is the capital of Lanzhou, it only has a few thousand garrison soldiers, which certainly cannot withstand the barbarian bandits' advance. If Jincheng falls, or if the barbarian bandits bypass the city, they may very well harass Qin and Long. I must go to survey the terrain, inspect the soldiers, and choose a location to build a pass to block them; otherwise—Fengxiang will be in danger!"

From Shanzhou to Jincheng is three hundred li, from Jincheng to Chengji, the capital of Qinzhou, is over four hundred li, and from Chengji to Fengxiang is another nearly four hundred li. Frankly, Li Ji didn't believe the Tibetan army could advance so far after capturing Shanzhou. Based on his assessment of Ma Chongying's strategic deployment, even if they advanced with unstoppable momentum, the most likely course of action would be to stop at Chengji, and then, this year or next autumn, head north to attack Guzang, the capital of Liangzhou. Once Guzang was captured, the Hexi Corridor would be completely cut off.

However, one should be prudent in assessing the enemy; as the saying goes, "those who calculate more win, those who calculate less lose." Perhaps the smooth progress of the military operation will embolden Ma Chongying, leading him to plan a direct assault on Chang'an. In fact, it's not necessary to reach the walls of Chang'an; simply threatening Xijing (Fengxiang) would give him complete strategic dominance, and perhaps even force the Tang Dynasty to sign some unequal treaty…

Since arriving in Fengxiang Prefecture, Li Ji has mostly wandered around the city's outskirts, his furthest journey being to Longzhou in search of fleeing Hu (Tibetan) tribes. He is quite unfamiliar with the geography of the entire Fengxiang military governor's jurisdiction. Therefore, he intends to venture west to conduct a field survey, hoping to contain the Tibetan army outside the capital region, specifically west of Longzhou, should an enemy be encountered.

We can't just let the enemy troops into Fengxiang Prefecture and only focus on how to fight a defensive battle...

Furthermore, he had another purpose in requesting to go west: when Li Tan's Longyou army was truly defeated and even the refugees and civilians were fleeing eastward, he could try to provide some support and assistance.

After listening to Li Ji's request, Li Ding took out a map from his box, spread it on the table, frowned and looked at it for a few moments, then asked, "Second Brother, in your opinion, if Lanzhou falls and the barbarian bandits advance towards Wei and Long, where is the best place to fortify the area?"

Li Ji pointed to the map: "Xiangwu".

Xiangwu was the capital of Weizhou, and had been a famous city on the western frontier since the Han Dynasty. Li Ji, who had been well-versed in the history of the Han and Jin Dynasties in his previous life, was very familiar with this location. Mapmaking was of very poor quality in those days. Even the military maps kept by the government were not very detailed. It was difficult to determine whether a certain area was a strategic location for military competition or whether a certain city could be defended against the enemy simply by looking at the map without conducting on-site surveys. Therefore, he could only roughly delineate a location based on what he had learned in his previous life.

As a famous city with a long history, it must have had a reason for its long-term existence. If it were not a strategically important location, it must have been a vital hub. If it was the former, it could have been used to deter foreign invaders. If it was the latter, it would have shown that it could not be easily abandoned.

Upon hearing this, Li Ding shook his head: "Just say it's within my Fengxiang jurisdiction."

I admit that Xiangwu City is important, but that is ultimately Li Tan's responsibility, and it is really inconvenient for me to interfere.

After a moment's thought, Li Ji pointed eastward and said, "Shanggui is also an important place."

Back when the Three Kingdoms were in a state of tripartite division, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei led their troops on several northern expeditions, often engaging in fierce battles with the Wei army around Shanggui, demonstrating that this was a crucial geographical point that needed attention.

Li Ding thought for a moment, then raised his head, stared into Li Ji's eyes, and slowly said, word by word:

"My dear Erlang, I know you are worried about the King of Qi and your comrades who fought alongside you in Longyou. You wish you could grow wings and fly to Shanzhou to help them. However, the enemy has nearly 100,000 troops. Even if you were to bring the entire army of Fengxiang to their aid, it would be like a drop in the ocean, and would be of no benefit to the country."

"To be loyal and courageous in killing the enemy is indeed the nature of a man, but one must also obey the orders of the court. Otherwise, if everyone fights alone, how can there be any chance of victory? Erlang is also a seasoned general, so I don't need to give him any instructions. Only with military discipline can one be considered a soldier; otherwise, one is nothing more than a country bumpkin. Even if the barbarian bandits break through Longyou and head towards Hexi, we must guard our defense zone and not recklessly go to their aid."

"You may allow Erlang to go west, but he may only go as far as Shanggui to survey the terrain and deploy troops. Under no circumstances should he cross the border!"

Li Ji crossed his arms and bowed deeply, saying, "I will obey the commander's orders and dare not disobey."