Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 46 The War Is Not Forgotten (4)

A room full of soldiers grunting one after another, Zhao Xingde couldn't sleep, so he simply put on his clothes, spread out a piece of letter paper, picked up a pen and wrote down what he saw, heard, thought and felt recently:

"Shaoyang, Minghuan, and Shouyi princes, and the capital is farewell. Every time I think about discussing with you, it seems like yesterday. Under the Taixue House, Brother Shaoyang once said that the so-called party of gentlemen is based on fellowship, and those who are far-sighted make decisions On the inside, those who are practical and capable run outside, then they can rule the world and enjoy peace in the world. My brother is blunt, and he served in the Hebei Army for ten days. As the saying goes, those who run outside should reflect what they have seen, thought, and felt in the past few days. , Report to the kings, in order to learn from each other, to resolve doubts and 'confusion'.

On the day of the army march, the transfer envoys conscripted thousands of husbands from the left and near to accompany the army. Because the rich paid money to exempt them from the army, the recruited husbands were all poor people. Weeping, or saying that the family has no food for the next day, the farming season has been missed, and there is hope for selling children and daughters.In other words, the government is often driven, and there is no time to return home, so it is inevitable to be a ghost from a foreign land.Hearing the sound of suffering, I burst into tears.The younger brother tossed and turned, thinking that the so-called exemption money from the imperial court was all taken by the superiors. In this way, the rich were exempted from the service, and the poor were not reduced.Why not use the rich people's exemption money to hire the poor to carry them, so that the rich will enjoy their leisure, and the poor will eat their labor, and everyone will get what they want.

From Bianjing to Daming, it passes through dozens of counties, but there are no less than a hundred tax cards on the road. The villagers jokingly call it too small a law place, and the business tax is heavy, such as cloth, aquatic products, grains, bamboo, wood, books, paper, lacquer, and rice. Bundle salary, sporadic vegetables and eggplants are all taxed.All things are born to support people, and the uneven production in different places depends on business travel to communicate with each other.However, there are many tax cards in the country. If the river is blocked and the flow is blocked, business travel will be blocked, and there will be poverty.For example, the tax on salt is the heaviest. In the prefectures of the Central Plains, there are also poor people who don't know the taste of salt.However, as soon as they entered the territory of Hebei, everyone ate salty food, which was caused by the private trade of salt from Liaoxia by the soldiers in the camp.The private markets of the military are prohibited by this law, but the poor people in the two regions of Hebei rely on it to know the taste of salt, which is not too sad.

The camp in Hebei was briefly rushed, and the troops have been guarding the border courts for a long time. They should be a strong army of those who dare to fight and are good at fighting.However, from what my younger brother saw, most of the soldiers were served by generals, selling salt, weaving cloth, making leather and iron, and doing everything.It may be said that the imperial court wants to guard the interior and the exterior, so it often makes the military supplies insufficient to control the camps.

Or Yun Xingying has been following the door for a long time, and the abuse is hard to get rid of.In my opinion, Taixue has already set up martial arts, why not expand it? If Wang Wengong wants my Taixue scholar to take charge of the prefectures and counties, make all the troops above the head, personally accept the court's favor, and gradually use martial arts students to replace the generals. private.

Or the soldiers are ignorant, the soldiers are rewarded by the court, and the generals are thanked, so the court does not reward the troops lightly.From my brother's point of view, everyone has a heart, so educate them so that they can distinguish right from wrong, understand things, understand loyalty, and be responsible for my generation.

It is quite absurd for people to use the saying "sharpening a knife to hate is not good, and the sharpness of a knife hurts people's fingers" to describe the army in the camp.Things may not have a heart of loyalty, but people often have a sense of shame.If the imperial court treats the army as parents treat their young sons, then the army will serve the court just like a child treats its parents.Our dynasty regards soldiers as a danger, and relies more on the armies than the previous dynasty.If you follow my younger brother's strategy, and the generals come from the official school, and the soldiers have loyalty in their hearts, then you will only see the Great Wall of the country, and there will be no opposing army.

The so-called road of thousands of miles must be traveled under your feet. My brother wants to set up a tent in Daming to teach the soldiers the way of loyalty. Do you think so? "

Zhao Xingde sometimes concentrates on thinking, sometimes writes vigorously, and writes thousands of words in one go.Three watch drums sounded outside, just now the letter paper was sealed with sealant and a private seal was stamped, only to feel extremely tired and sleepy, so I fell asleep on the desk.

At dawn the next day, Xingde woke up from dizziness, only Han Shizhong was sitting in the room, and the other generals had already left.

"The scholar borrowed tens of thousands of silver coins when he was in Bianjing. Although the matter failed, Lao Han still accepts your love." Han Shizhong said with a smile, "Now there is a business that will make a lot of money, do you want to do it?" He said It was the business of the Hebei army escorting the caravan to the border market between Song and Liao in private.There is a buffer zone of hundreds of miles between Song and Liao. Both Song and Liao are more willing to send troops to fight grass valleys, and do not allow their own people to settle there.Because the Song Dynasty intermittently implemented confinement measures similar to the trade embargo against the Liao Kingdom, and because of the huge profits brought about by the embargo and high tariffs, private goods transactions were greatly stimulated, and this sparsely populated buffer zone, It has become an excellent mutual market for business travelers from both sides, and it has also become a good place for horse thieves and bandits and even masked Song and Liao troops to plunder goods.Later, powerful caravans found volunteers from prefectures and counties, and even the officers and soldiers of Daying, Hebei, escorted them.

The business that Han Shizhong mentioned was about [-] guan for the upfront payment alone. After the event was completed, he would also be charged a share of the final profit. In the Hebei army, this was one of the most profitable transactions.Han Shizhong had just arrived, and Yuan Guangfu from Daying, Hebei Province deliberately let him this business in order to make friends with him.

This large caravan originally employed more than a hundred volunteers from prefectures and counties, and Han Shizhong brought dozens of cavalry escorts.Although Zhao Xingde is just a scholar, he has always been shrewd. Han Shizhong needed his help to monitor whether the leader of the caravan deliberately lowered the profit of the transaction to deceive him.Zhao Xingde hesitated for a moment, considering that the idle horse thieves would definitely not be able to eat such a large caravan, he finally couldn't restrain his curiosity about the private goods market between Liao and Song Dynasties, and agreed.

In the commander-in-chief's mansion of the Hebei camp, Tong Guan officially announced to the generals of the camp that Liu Yanqing would return to Beijing and transfer to the false title of General Zuowei, and he would take over the military power of Hebei himself.No matter what plans the generals have in mind, they will flatter the new one on the surface.

Tong Guan didn't put on airs as a general, and after trying to comfort the generals under his command, he said slowly: "Whether it is the Khitan people's invasion of the south, or the imperial court's invasion of Youyan, Hebei Daying will bear the brunt. The situation in Hebei, Xiongzhou Waqiao Guan, Yijin Pass in Bazhou, and Gaoyang Pass in Baozhou are the throats, and Hejian, Zhending, and Zhongshan are important towns. If Liao Qi breaks through the pass and enters, our dynasty will be on the defensive, and the three towns will refuse to go forward, and the court will set up heavy troops. Afterwards, Hebei Xingying Shuaifu was placed in the three towns of Damingfu, which was appropriate.

However, if our dynasty wants to use Youyan troops, the Hebei camp will be located in Daming Mansion, which will be too far away from the frontier. Yingzhou.Before I left Beijing to take up my post, His Majesty personally explained..."

Having said this, Tong Guan kept silent and looked down, the hearts of all the generals were terrified, and they stood upright unconsciously, listening quietly to the official's decree.

Tong Guanfang said in a deep voice: "The upper camps in Hebei are ordered to deploy and command the troops of the camp, and move the town to Hejian Mansion to prepare for the needs of the management of Youyan."

Tong Guan's voice was full of vigor, almost shaking the eardrums of the generals under his command. It has been 60 years since the Hebei camp was set up in Daming Mansion. Buying land and real estate in the world, a big family with branches and leaves, Hebei Xingying has long regarded the Daming Mansion as the backyard of the army.At this moment, it is a bit unwilling to move the town with an order.Just because Tong Guan said something first, this is the emperor's order, none of the generals was full of resentment, and no one dared to speak out against it.

"Since everyone has no objection, the commander-in-chief also respectfully obeys the edict. Today is the eighth day of the eighth lunar month. After ten days, the army will move to Hejian Mansion. The family members of the generals and soldiers will go to Hejian with the camp north. Let's move there slowly, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, everyone." Tong Guan said to the generals with a smile on his face.

After he finished pronouncing the decree, the details of the specific implementation of the transfer of the town were explained to the generals by his staff. Tong Guan just sat on the white tiger-skin chair and looked at the expressions of the generals. Who could be dissatisfied, picked up a dossier, opened it, and it was the copy that Zhao Xingde sent to the capital.

Tong Guan was born as an eunuch with palm prints in the imperial study, and his writing was fine. He read Zhao Xingde's letter at a glance, closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, "This Zhao Yuanzhi is indeed a talented person. It is just right for me to exchange a martial arts supervisor for a general. Get rid of these old generals of Liu Yanqing, the supervisors, who have no power and power, and have no foundation in Hebei. As long as I nod, crying and shouting, I don’t know how many people want to be disciples? Teach soldiers with loyalty, miscellaneous He is His Majesty's servant, patrolling hunting on behalf of the sky. In Hebei, isn't loyalty to the imperial court the same as loyalty to miscellaneous families? Hehe, hehe, this article is well written. No wonder officials love to use scholars so much." He opened his eyes and waved his hand to his subordinates The servant ignored the letter.

Fifteen days later, Zhao Xingde received a reply letter from Chen Dong and other members of the Neo Confucian Society while he was marching with Daying, Hebei.In addition to scolding the "treacherous" ministers and evil officials as usual to deceive the emperor and the people, Chen Dong and Deng Su praised Zhao Xingde's proposal to replace the generals in the spirit of the literati's usual precautions against generals. Most of the supervisors are the descendants of the hereditary generals. Chen Dong mentioned in his letter that he would contact the scholars of the Taixue to submit a letter to the court. This matter involved quite a lot, and replacing the generals of the army with martial arts supervisors may not be accomplished in a day.

Zhang Bing, He Fang, and Zhu Sen were more interested in Zhao Xingde's idea of ​​teaching low-level soldiers with loyalty, and persuaded Chen Dong that all members of the Neo-Confucian Society pooled a hundred guan of silver for Zhao Xingde to buy things needed for lectures. He was originally from Hebei. Zhang Bing also recommended to Zhao Xingde several celebrities and gentry in Damingfu, but when his letter arrived, Zhao Xingde had already crossed the Yellow River with the army.

Zhao Xingde carefully folded the letters from his classmates and friends and put them in his arms. He felt that his ideas were accepted by these like-minded friends, and his heart was filled with joy.He unfolded a letter written by senior brother Song An, and his complexion suddenly became gloomy. Although Yushitai Qingliu intervened in the case of the envoy of the Liao Dynasty at the Dragon Boat Festival Ceremony, under the insistence of the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, Li Ruobing, the supervisor of Duting Xiyi Station, was still demoted and exiled, and was awarded the nine-rank Qiongzhou Biejia.

Zhao Xingde finished reading Song An's letter expressionlessly, with mixed feelings in his heart. He didn't know whether it was anger or guilt. He looked up to the sky and sighed. As if in one piece, the clouds are thick and low, covering the sun, as if they are going to press directly on the ground.The soldiers who were marching also had gloomy faces.The [-]-strong army marched in a long snake formation, walking between the sky and the earth, the cars rumbled, the horses were rustling, and they couldn't see the end to the north and the end to the south.