Tang Dynasty Swordsman.

That Yang Shigu was quite eloquent, not only quick-witted but also expressive, and his words were quite persuasive. Li Ji was somewhat wary, because such ability could be persuasive when facing superiors and peers, but could easily be transformed into incitement when facing subordinates and the public. He would say things like, "We are poor and have no other way to do anything but return to the army. We beg the new commander to accept us."

Because most soldiers didn't own much land—otherwise they wouldn't have abandoned their families to join the army and make a living on the edge—even if they wanted to return to farming, they could only become tenants of wealthy families, at their beck and call, practically slaves. Besides, even if you wanted to sell yourself into slavery, someone had to be willing to take you in, right? Which family would trust a veteran to take in? Wealthy families could only afford to hire a few dozen or a hundred guards and bodyguards at most; the number of positions was extremely limited.

Therefore, they could only rely on the money and silk they had plundered or received as gifts during the years of battles, which they were gradually depleting. Moreover, most of the loot went to their superiors, and because of the repeated defeats, the rewards were not much. During the war and after the initial pacification, supplies were scarce and the price of grain soared, so they simply could not sustain themselves for long.

Nie Feng, whether to show his loyalty to the new commander or for some other purpose, deliberately interjected and pointed out: "There are also thieves." Yang Shigu quickly explained: "They are not thieves, but petty thieves..." Firstly, they are locals, so it is not convenient to be too ruthless; secondly, given the terrain of Weizhou, there are no high mountains or deep valleys, so it is impossible to gather a large group of strongmen.

In short, everyone was struggling to survive. They had been hoping for a new commander to arrive and be willing to raise the banner of recruitment again, so they were all gritting their teeth and enduring it...

Yang Shigu didn't say anything more, but the implication was clear: if the new commander refused to accept him, that man, when driven to desperation, was capable of anything. If he could rally a hundred followers and truly become a bandit, these ten thousand or so men alone wouldn't dare attack a city, but they could wreak havoc on every town and market!

Li Ji asked calmly, "Since you are a Light Cavalry Commandant with seven acres of land, enough to make a living, why do you still need to risk your life on the edge of a knife? Is it because the court has not yet granted you this privilege?"

According to Li Yu's amnesty decree, as long as officials of the puppet Yan surrender, all their official positions, posts, and honors will be retained. Of course, specific cases should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. For high-ranking officials like Xu Shuji who have sided with the rebels, let alone being captured, even if they surrender voluntarily, there is no reason for them to be reinstated. They will definitely be transferred. Thus, officials will have land for their posts, and honored officials will have land for their merits. Even if they go home to farm, they will not go hungry.

Chapter Twenty: Including Former Soldiers

The ten thousand or so former Weizhou soldiers gathered outside Guixiang City, though all dressed in simple clothes, showed a clear distinction between rich and poor. Those on the outer circle were mostly dressed in worn, even tattered, garments, many barefoot; while the representatives within the inner circle were much neater, especially Yang Shigu, whose upper garment was clearly a modified brocade robe—it was unclear whether it had been bought or stolen…

Because it's very unlikely that a regular soldier could command a large following, those who could become representatives had to be at least junior officers or non-commissioned officers.

Each situation needs to be analyzed individually. Li Jiguang brought up Yang Shigu's case, asking, "Weren't you granted land for merit? Why don't you go home to farm and instead continue serving in the army? Serving in the army is very risky, what are the benefits?"

Yang Shigu smiled bitterly, "Even if the court were willing to grant it, where would so much land come from?" He pointed behind him, "The general has thousands of men before him, most of whom have meritorious service. Even those who have been promoted to the fifth or sixth rank are already filling the fields. If all of them were granted meritorious land, I'm afraid all the land in Weizhou would be divided up. Even though I am now a Light Cavalry Commandant, the land I received from the false Yan was only ten mu, which is hardly enough to support my family."

Li Ziyi interjected, "When I was promoted to Light Cavalry Captain, I was entitled to ten qing of land, but I have not received an inch of it. The land passed down from my ancestors is less than five mu..."

—With the farming methods of those days, five mu of land wasn't even enough for a grown woman to work on.

"If the commander is willing to grant land according to his merits, we will disperse immediately."

Li Ji thought to himself, "How is that possible? You all said that if all the former generals and soldiers of Weizhou were granted land based on their merits, it's possible that even if all the farmland in Weizhou were divided up, it wouldn't be enough. What am I supposed to do then?"

The system of official ranks was a reward system inherited from the Northern Dynasties, specifically awarded to those who had rendered meritorious service in killing enemies. As described in the Ballad of Mulan, "His merits were awarded twelve ranks, and he was rewarded with hundreds and thousands of honors." There were twelve ranks in total, from the first to the twelfth. In the early Tang Dynasty, these ranks were quite valuable. The twelfth rank of Shangzhuguo and the eleventh rank of Shangzhuguo were equivalent to the second rank of officialdom. The lowest rank, Wuqiwei, was equivalent to the seventh rank. Thus, Li Ziyi's eighth rank of Shangqingcheduwei was equivalent to the fourth rank, and Yang Shigu's seventh rank of Qingcheduwei was equivalent to the fourth rank.

But if we really calculate it that way, then these two could stand upright without kneeling and sit on equal footing with Li Ji...

In fact, as the conferment of ranks became increasingly indiscriminate, and with the gradual shift from civil to military officials after the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, these ranks became completely worthless. Li Bi once said to Li Ji, commenting on ranks: "According to the decree, they are on par with high-ranking officials, but in reality, they are below even the lowest-ranking clerks." Nowadays, even a high-ranking official like Shangzhuguo, if without any official position, is no different from an ordinary citizen.

But are ranks of honor merely a title without any practical benefits? Theoretically, they should. First, those with honors are granted land, and a considerable amount at that. Even a first-rank Wuqiwei or second-rank Yunqiwei receives sixty mu of land—enough, if cultivated diligently, to barely support a family of three. Second, honored officials are exempt from taxes, regular corvée labor, and miscellaneous corvée, only required to perform temporary corvée labor (roughly equivalent to temporary workers in various government offices). Third, if one performs temporary corvée labor, called "fanshang," one can be granted an official position based on the length of service—generally, a Shangzhuguo (a high-ranking official) is granted the sixth rank, decreasing sequentially, while Yunqiwei and Wuqiwei are granted the ninth rank. Fourth, those with honors equivalent to the third to fifth ranks can have their sons granted hereditary privileges…

In other words, theoretically, Li Ziyi and Yang Shigu should each receive ten or seven qing of land as meritorious land and be exempt from corvée labor; they had both joined the army before the An Lushan Rebellion, and if their years in the pseudo-Yan era were also included, they could have become seventh-rank officials and had one son granted an official position. But in reality, all of this was just empty talk.

According to Yang Shigu, even allotted land and permanent land have not been granted for a long time, let alone merit land. Li Ji nodded secretly, thinking to himself that his official land has always been tied up in his salary, and he has never even seen a single acre of land. According to the Tang law (the Yan law was a pure copy of the Tang law), whether it was official land or merit land, if it was insufficient, it should be replaced with rice. But where would there be so much grain? Who would be willing to distribute it?

The only advantage of being a meritorious official is that you are exempt from corvée labor, but your superiors often drag their soldiers to do private work for them, which is not much different from performing corvée labor.

The pseudo-Yan was a makeshift operation, and they didn't pay attention to many things; now that the Li Tang dynasty has taken over, they are both poor and exhausted, so they can't afford to be particular about anything. Li Ziyi said that if the general were to grant land according to merit, we would immediately disperse, knowing that Li Ji would not agree.

Weizhou simply didn't have that much arable land, and its granaries didn't have that much money and grain to offset the merit land.

Li Ji had considered confiscating land from wealthy households and distributing it, but aside from the fact that this was too difficult, he was ultimately just a local official, not a rebel, and couldn't possibly go head-to-head with all the officials and landlords in the country; even if he succeeded, he would definitely restore the equal-field system of the early Tang Dynasty, and wouldn't recognize the honorary ranks he had previously been granted.

The only way to solve the problem is to reinstate these guys and let them continue serving in the military and receiving government pay.

After Yang Shigu and Li Ziyi pleaded for a long time, Li Ji, seeing that some of the guys in the back row seemed impatient, slowly nodded: "I can take you in..."

Everyone was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed, saying, "Thank you, General!"

Li Ji waved his hand, "Wait a minute." He then looked at Nie Feng and asked him, "How many soldiers does Weizhou have now?"

Nie Feng replied, "There are over ten thousand people in the city, and three to four thousand more are stationed in the various counties and townships."

In peaceful times, and not in a major border town, this would already be considered an excessive number of troops; but now, surrounded by surrendered generals and powerful vassals, Weibo's small number of troops is not much different from being undefended.

"How much rice and grain is left in the granary?"

Nie Feng frowned: "This humble general does not know, but it should be no less than thirty to fifty thousand bushels."

Li Ji looked up at the sky and silently calculated in his mind—if it were 30,000 bushels of grain, it probably wouldn't be enough to feed 10,000 people until the autumn harvest… He then paused, put down his long sword, looked down at Li, Yang and the others, and slowly said, “I am here by order of the court to guard this Xiong Prefecture. 10,000 soldiers are not enough, so I will recruit more—but it is impossible to recruit all of you.”

Li Ziyi frowned, about to speak, when Yang Shigu reached out and tugged at his collar, saying first, "There should be some selection... but we are truly poor, with no land to cultivate and no other occupation. We hope the commander will recruit more..."

Li Ji smiled wryly: "In your opinion, how many should we recruit?"

“We will need another 20,000 soldiers…” Yang Shigu paused for a moment, then quickly added, “No fewer than 30,000 will be scattered throughout the surrounding countryside, but those who arrived too late will have to be abandoned.”

If another 20,000 are recruited, plus the previous 10,000, that makes 30,000. Actually, that's not a lot—the court hoped that Li Ji would train 50,000 elite soldiers—but the problem is that there isn't enough food. "I should go into the city to count the remaining granaries to determine the exact number of recruits."

Li Ziyi hurriedly said, "Please give me a definite answer first, General, whether or not we should recruit 20,000 men? What if you keep making such a vague statement and then turn your back on us once we get into the city?"

Yin Shen stood behind Li Ji, staring wide-eyed and shouting, "Are you trying to coerce the military commander?!" But his voice wasn't loud enough, and his appearance wasn't fierce enough, so he couldn't scare the other party at all.

Yang Shigu hurriedly bowed his head, but deliberately raised his voice eight octaves: "I dare not, but please, Commander, accept all those who come to pay their respects, and allow them to retain their previous ranks and honors!"

Upon hearing this, everyone echoed, "Please, General, accept us all!" The shouts of over ten thousand people were almost in unison, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, their momentum extremely terrifying. Yin Shen and the others, including Gao Ying and Du Huangshang who were still on the ship, all changed color.

Only Li Ji remained unmoved—"I've seen countless armies and horses. You're like thugs and bandits now, how could I be afraid?" He pointed and said sternly, "Don't try to fool me. Are you all old soldiers from Weizhou? How come there are still children with their hair in tufts of hair?!"

Actually, that's an exaggeration. There really weren't any young children or teenagers, but Li Ji clearly saw that there were quite a few teenagers in the crowd, probably only thirteen or fourteen years old at the very least—you're saying they were soldiers too?

Yang Shigu hurriedly explained, “Although they are young, they are all veterans... Some came to enlist, while others are the sons of comrades who died in battle. Their families are too poor to make a living, so they had no choice but to join the army. Commander, rest assured, they have all seen blood, and many have even killed people. But after a year or two of raising them, they will surely be strong and able to charge into battle.”

"Then what about the old and frail with white hair?"

“They joined the army in the early years of the Tianbao era, or even during the Kaiyuan era. They have been in the army for decades and have long regarded the military as their home. It is truly unbearable to abandon them… If the commander abandons them, it is tantamount to killing them. Many of their relatives and friends are in the army and will surely feel grief…”

Li Ji thought to himself, "What a load of crap, you mean 'I will definitely be your enemy'?"

"There aren't many people on the left and right, so I hope the commander will collect a large number of them."

Their idea is that you should accept everyone who gathers today, regardless of age, weakness, or disability; and depending on the situation, you should also accept about 10,000 from those who come back later. Keep the lion's share, and we won't bother with the meager amounts left—it's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?

In fact, Li Ji had already decided to recruit the former Weizhou soldiers who had previously deserted on his way here. Firstly, he was eager to expand his army as long as resources and equipment allowed—the original 10,000 men were certainly not enough—so it was better to recruit veterans with combat experience, or at least military service qualifications, than to recruit new recruits. Secondly, based on information gathered from various sources, he knew that most of the Hebei soldiers were veterans of the Long March, not farmers serving in the military. Many of them had no skills other than fighting, and if they were scattered among the people, they would be a rather unstable social factor.

To put it bluntly, you need to provide a way out for veterans, even those from the opposing side. Historically, after a period of chaos and initial pacification, a crucial element is having enough arable land to distribute. However, it's unlikely that Wei and Bo provinces have that much idle land. Even if there is idle land available for distribution, Li Ji would first need to arrive in the garrison and send people to carefully inspect and register it before implementation. Before that, you must spend money and grain to support those former soldiers to prevent them from causing trouble.

Although he had never expected that tens of thousands of former soldiers would surround the dock, ostensibly to plead for his life but in reality to coerce him, he was far from at ease. However, with the crisis imminent, he could only grit his teeth and back down slightly—his own honor and disgrace were minor compared to the unrest he was causing.

Of course, one must also adopt a sufficiently assertive stance to steer the nature of the incident from coercion to pleading for orders, so that one will only feel slightly uncomfortable, not humiliated, and will not incur the contempt of one's subordinates.

Li Ji was truly unafraid of the ten thousand or so refugees before him. He had seen plenty of similar unorganized and undisciplined armed gangs; as long as the leader was killed, the rest would inevitably scatter. Now, with his long sword in hand, he could draw it at any moment. Most of the refugee representatives were encircled in front of him, prostrating themselves on the ground, making it difficult for them to draw their swords. He was confident that he could instantly strike and kill half of them. As for the rest—Yin Shen and a dozen or so personal guards were standing behind him.

The problem is that this makes his hatred for the former soldiers of Weizhou irreconcilable. It's not just the ten thousand or so people before him; there are probably over twenty thousand more scattered in the surrounding countryside who haven't yet arrived. Even if they were all small criminal gangs of two or three people, let alone bandits, it would be impossible to wipe them out in a short time. How could he restore order and develop production then?

However, although the decision to recruit former soldiers had been made, they had to be usable personnel, right? Before even disembarking, Li Ji discovered that among these more than ten thousand former soldiers, even according to the lowest recruitment standards, less than 60% could be recruited... While there were basically no disabled soldiers—the disabled themselves knew that even if they returned to the barracks, they could not stay there any longer—there were quite a few elderly people with white hair and young children. I don't want these soldiers!

But then I thought, if these guys had land at home, at least they would have relatives to return to, then it would be fine. Otherwise, if they were sent back, they would most likely be doomed... How could I bear to do that? I had to find a way for them to survive.

Unfortunately, there wasn't time to consider it carefully, so for now I had no choice but to agree to their request and accept everything... However, I couldn't lose face as the military governor; I absolutely couldn't let anyone think that I was forced to agree to the representatives' conditions because I was worried about inciting unrest. So Li Ji glared fiercely at Li Ziyi and shouted sternly, "I am here to guard Weibo by imperial decree, and I need elite troops and strong generals, not old, weak, and disabled soldiers!"

Li Ziyi retorted, "If the commander refuses to agree..."

Li Ji suddenly stood up, holding his scabbard horizontally across Li Ji's shoulder: "If you don't agree, what will you do?!"

Nie Feng quickly crawled forward on his knees, raised his hands, and pretended to put his arms around Li Ji's arms—of course, he didn't dare, it was just a pretense—and pleaded, "Li Ziyi is clumsy with words and did not mean to offend the commander. I hope the commander will be magnanimous and forgive him. The old and weak can serve as watchmen, warehouse clerks, or sweep the courtyard for the commander. Please give them a way out."

Li Ji glanced at Nie Feng and thought to himself that he was doing a good job of helping them out—"I can give them a meal, but I can never share the same salary as the regular army."

Yang Shigu immediately shouted, "I will obey the commander's orders!"

In reality, neither the Tang army nor the puppet Yan army could treat their soldiers equally. Even if they were of the same rank, there would always be a hierarchy—would a military commander's personal guard receive the same treatment as other soldiers? Soldiers who broke through enemy lines would receive different rewards than those who garrisoned cities. In short, as long as you're willing to keep them all, that's fine.

Li Ji then slowly sheathed his long sword and said in a deep voice, "In that case, I will grant your request for now. I will order the flags to be raised and the soldiers to be counted. However, the able-bodied and the old and weak must be divided into separate camps—you can come with me into the city to discuss the specifics."

Author's note: I have some quirks. Ever since I started writing "Han Wei Wen Kui", I've been unaccustomed to creating NPCs with no background. I either dig out their names from the depths of old documents or ask readers to sign up for the role, unless it's a very minor character who only appears once—in which case I simply don't name them.

However, searching through ancient books to find suitable candidates is incredibly time-consuming and energy-draining—but it does increase my knowledge considerably. For example, some readers might guess that Du Huangshang and Gao Ying were influenced by "The Great Tang Official Records," but that's not actually the case. I only found their names in the second year of the Baoying era by recently purchasing and reviewing "The Records of Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty."

Incidentally, Zheng Yin and Zheng Wenming were indeed among the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) in the sixth year of the Dali era!

To get back to the main point, the protagonist will be active in the Hebei region for a considerable period afterward. However, due to the fragmented state of the three towns in Hebei during the original historical period, information about Hebei scholars and military commanders is extremely scarce and fragmented, making it very difficult to find. Therefore, I earnestly request that readers once again enthusiastically sign up to play minor roles by posting in the comments section. Don't worry, I will take good care of you all…

Chapter Twenty-One: Li Ji Enters Wei

Li Ji originally planned to lure all those dozens of representatives into the city and then eliminate them.

The saying goes, "A snake cannot move without a head." Even if he agreed to take in those ten thousand old soldiers, he did not want to hand them over to Li Ziyi, Yang Shigu, and others to command. They can coerce me with their troops today, but who knows what they might do if they have weapons and positions in the future!

But Li Ziyi, without a care in the world, was ready to follow. Yang Shigu, however, was cunning and continued to kneel and beg, saying, "General, you are not familiar with these old soldiers. We can assist in the recruitment. We hope that you will first grant us a title."

First, we need to get a military position; second, it's too dangerous to go into the city with you now, it's better to wait until we've established a camp first...

Li Ji had no choice but to temporarily restore the ranks of these representatives in the Yan army, such as deputy general, deputy general, or minor officer, etc. Of course, they were not appointed as generals without real positions. Even Nie Feng, who helped maintain order, had the word "general" removed from his rank.

Xuan ordered Yin Shen to lead several personal guards out of the crowd and raise a recruitment flag in the west of the city. He then ordered Li Ziyi, Yang Shigu, and others: "Since you are soldiers, you should abide by military law. Line up and wait for inspection—anyone who is in disarray..." He glanced at Nie Feng—"What should be done with them?"

Nie Feng crossed his arms and replied, "Military law: anyone who breaks ranks will be executed!"

Li Ji picked up the sword with one hand, sheath still attached, and held it horizontally in front of Nie Feng, saying loudly, "This is a precious sword bestowed by the emperor. I entrust it to you to uphold military law!" He had also noticed that Nie Feng not only had considerable prestige in the old army, but was also familiar with most of the representatives, and could be of some use.

Nie Feng hurriedly bowed his head, raised his hands high, and respectfully accepted the horizontal sword—it was indeed a treasured sword bestowed by the emperor, originally wielded by Li Xi, but knocked to the ground by Li Ji in the Flying Dragon Stable. Li Yu picked it up and personally handed it to Li Ji.

Li Ziyi still had something to say: "We are starving and hope that the commander will have mercy and provide us with food."

Li Ji glared at him: "Do you think I'm carrying thousands of bushels of rice? If you won't let me into the city, then we'll both starve to death here!"

—This Li Ziyi is the most unruly; we must teach him a lesson when we get the chance!

With the order given and flags raised, the former soldiers of Weizhou finally parted to make way—and they all hurried to line up—Li Ji then signaled the ships behind to dock, gathered his men on the pier, and slowly made their way towards the city gate. Jiao Xiwang followed closely behind Li Ji, trembling, and asked in a low voice, "Should we order the soldiers to draw their weapons in case of unforeseen circumstances?"

Li Ji smiled and shook his head: "If we brandish our blades, it will not only show our fear, but it will also easily lead to chaos."

He knew those old soldiers wouldn't trust him. If he showed the slightest fear or displayed obvious hostility, even if they didn't fight on the spot, they would definitely block him at the dock, demanding that he be registered, given weapons, established as a camp leader, and even provided with food before releasing him. Because by then, he would be somewhat organized and ready to launch an attack at any time, so he wouldn't have to worry about Li Ji going back on his word.

Actually, Li Ji had come from a thousand miles away and had brought enough food and provisions to distribute to his old soldiers, but he absolutely refused to do so! He insisted that he had no food here and had to go into the city to check the treasury.

He believed that these old soldiers could still hold out—otherwise they would have already launched an attack on the city—so once he entered the city and took control of the treasury, he could, to some extent, control the lifeline of the old soldiers.

Fortunately, among the old soldiers, there are currently no mid- to high-ranking officers or generals—the higher the rank of the general, the more soldiers will recognize him and be willing to join his ranks. This would allow him to potentially gather thousands or even tens of thousands of men, instead of the current near-disorganized mob, and thus have the strength to challenge Li Ji. Frankly, if Li Ji is not assertive enough, and if he doesn't maintain a degree of flexibility within that assertiveness, and if he truly angers those old soldiers, and if there is a respected former general in command, he might very well oust the new commander and seize power.

Fortunately, Xue Song didn't seem to get involved, otherwise things would have been even worse.

Because there weren't enough veteran generals to hold the fort, those old soldiers were willing to obey Li Ji's orders with trepidation, rushing to line up and register, gambling that the new commander had no ill intentions and wouldn't go back on his word.

Meanwhile, Feng Yan, atop the city wall, had received a prior message from Nie Feng that the men outside meant no harm, only earnestly requesting the new commander's acceptance of their service. He instructed Nie Feng to guide the leader to the dock to pay respects to the new commander—and also to quickly leave the city. But how could Feng Yan dare leave the city at this critical juncture? He thought to himself, "If anything happens to the new commander, I will be guilty of a grave offense; if the city falls, I will be sentenced to death! It's best to keep the city gates tightly closed..."

He waited on the west city wall, anxiously watching the situation at the dock. He finally waited until Li Ji led his troops to the city, then ordered his soldiers to be on high alert, and led the prefectural officials to open the city gates to welcome them.

Li Ji smiled at him: "The city is closed during the day, and swords and spears are raised. Is the infiltrator welcoming me or guarding against me?"

Feng Yan hurriedly bowed deeply: "I dare not, I only fear that chaos will break out outside the city. This is to guard against thieves, how could I dare not respect Commander Li?"

Li Ji waved his hand: "There are no thieves, just some old soldiers who asked me to take them in. Qianzhi, there's no need to be alarmed. Just order the four city gates to be opened to reassure the people."