"This Shazhou City is really prosperous!" Sun Jianguo couldn't help but sigh.
Compared with the bustling city of Shazhou, Guazhou is just a small rural place. No wonder those big food merchants will not continue moving forward when they arrive in Shazhou.
However, although the city is large, the entire Shazhou City is a bit dirty. There are bustling sounds everywhere. Soldiers with weapons are patrolling the streets. When the people see these sergeants, they run away.
"Let's stay here first and then do the mission." Cui Tao said to Cui Ruoyun and Sun Jianguo.
Sun Jianguo nodded and said, "I'm going to contact my business friends in Shazhou City to find out about the situation in Shazhou."
When they first entered the city, the soldiers guarding the city gate told the three of them that foreign merchants who came to Shazhou City could only stay in a few hotels in Jucaifang. Following the caravan of foreign merchants, the three of them came to Jucaifang.
The squares in the Tang Dynasty are equivalent to today's communities, but the squares in big cities like Shazhou all have their own low walls. Each square is equivalent to a small city within a big city.
Nowadays, Shazhou also implements a curfew policy. Every day at night, the entrances and exits of each farm will be closed.
The security guard in the square will start patrolling with the bad guys. At this time, those who do not have a night pass will be arrested and put into the jail of the governor's mansion.
It was already afternoon when the three of them entered the city, and they quickly stayed at the hotel in Jucaifang.
"This hotel is really expensive!" Cui Tao complained.
Sun Jianguo said: "I heard that the hotels here are run by officers of the Doulu Army, so the prices are naturally not cheap."
"This Doulu Army is really lawless in Shazhou City!"
"Isn't that right? Nowadays, in Shazhou City, all matters, big and small, require Doulu Jun's nod, otherwise nothing can be done."
While the three of them were staying in the hotel, five generals in civilian clothes were having a meeting in the Doulu Army's barracks outside Shazhou City.
None of them wore armor, but gorgeous robes made of silk.
The five captains, Sha, Wang, Wu, Kang and Shi, are the top five officers of the Doulu Army.
Jia Sishun stopped setting up the Doulu Army's Jiedushi Judges five years ago. These five people were of the same rank, so Jia Sishun provoked them to fight each other and maintained the balance of the Doulu Army.
But this kind of balancing technique also comes at a price. The five captains fought among themselves. As a result, the Doulu Army became more and more domineering, and the five captains became more and more powerful in the army.
After the autumn defense last year, Jia Sishun refused to pay rewards to the Doulu Army, which completely offended everyone in the Doulu Army.
The five captains finally understood that Jia Sishun was the one balancing them all these years.
The five captains decided to join forces and ask Jia Sishun for the reward.
As soon as these five people joined forces, they eliminated Jia Sishun, the governor of Shazhou and the governor of Shazhou. Now, the matter of the Doulu Army is met by these five lieutenants to discuss and solve the problem.
Among the five school lieutenants, Sha Xiaowei is the oldest, and the Sha family is also a prominent family in Shazhou City. It is a martial arts family that controlled the position of school captain in that era.
Lieutenant Sha said: "I finally managed to persuade that dude Jia Qin a few days ago, but I didn't expect that this guy would be banned by Jia Sishun!"
Sha Xiaowei called Jiedushi directly by his name, without any respect in his words.
Lieutenant Wang was a fat, dark man with a round face. He nodded and said, "Jia Qi is really a loser. He can't even ask his father for an official position."
The remaining three captains all agreed.
Winning over Jia Qi was originally a casual arrangement by the Fifth Colonel, but Jia Qi was useless and everyone lost interest in discussing it.
Sha Xiaowei added: "I heard a few days ago that the emperor appointed King Jianning as the general manager of Longyou Road to control the military personnel of Longyou Road. King Jianning is now in Guazhou City. I heard that the Moli Army has already
It is under the control of King Jianning."
Kang Xiaowei's family had a caravan, and he was the best informed. He said: "King Jianning's battle in Guazhou was quite large. He conducted a large search in Guazhou and found out a lot of land. He also captured three wealthy gentry in Guazhou City.
Eradicated.”
Shi Xiaowei was the youngest and the most courageous. He asked worriedly: "Will King Jianning come to Shazhou?"
Lieutenant Wu was the most rebellious. He said proudly: "So what if we come? I heard that King Jianning only has 500 Moli troops and one or two hundred personal guards. If he is willing to pay a reward, our Doulu army will support him."
If he didn't pay the reward, then the general manager of Longyou's army would be a joke."
After Captain Wu finished speaking, the other captains all laughed.
The emperor dispatched elite troops and horses from Longyou Road to support Guanzhong, but they were all lost in the Battle of Tongguan.
Since then, the imperial court's prestige in Longyou Road has been greatly reduced.
In addition, last year's Spring and Autumn Taxes were assessed layer by layer, and the governors of various states exploited the people very hard, which also made the entire Longyou Road hate the imperial court even more.
Originally, Longyou Road had to bear the invasion of the Uighurs and Tubos. Now Longyou's army is empty and bandits are rampant, and those officers and soldiers loyal to the Tang Dynasty are dead. Naturally, the remaining military uniforms are like the Doulu Army, and they will not obey the imperial edict.
Yang serves and Yin violates.
It was considered a good thing to be both positive and negative. Several shouchufus in the north simply cut off the autumn taxes they paid last year and recruited their own troops to prepare for the invasion of the Uighurs in the spring.
The five lieutenants looked at each other and smiled, obviously not too interested in Prince Jianning, the governor of Longyou appointed by the imperial court.
Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty court is still wandering around. Not to mention a mere county prince, even if the emperor comes, there will be no reward or military rations, and no one will sacrifice his life for him.
Lieutenant Sha added: "Captain Kang, you have to keep an eye on the salt field over the salt pond. It's a cash cow for us."
Kang Xiaowei's family was engaged in business. After taking over the Yanchi salt farm, the fifth Xiaowei gave him the responsibility to run the salt farm.
Lieutenant Sha smiled and said: "One battalion is guarding the salt pond, but the bandits in Sanwei Mountain do not dare to attack the salt pond where our officers and soldiers are stationed."
"However, during this period, too much salt is consumed, and the output cannot increase."
The unruly Colonel Wu immediately said: "These mud-legged people must be lazy! I would say that Colonel Sha is too kind! If the salt solution is not enough next time, I will chop off the heads of these mud-legged people!
"
Lieutenant Sha comforted him and said: "Burning and cooking salt is also a technical job. If the salt pods are cut down, the salt farm will be useless. What I want to do is to capture pods from near the salt pond. As long as there are more workers, the output will be higher."
Naturally, I went up."
Lieutenant Sha said decisively: "This method is good, let's leave it to Brigadier Zhang from the salt field."
At this time, we came to the last topic. Sha Xiaowei first said: "Now that we have surrounded the governor's mansion, there are many calls from the army to kill Governor Jia. What do you think?"
Everyone was silent now. After all, the Tang Dynasty had not completely collapsed. To openly discuss killing Shangguan was a serious crime of treason.
Lieutenant Sha coughed and said, "My opinion is, don't kill him. Mr. Jia is old and can no longer handle matters, and his family members are weak and incompetent. As long as we keep an eye on him, Shazhou City will belong to our Doulu Army. If Mr. Jia dies,
, the imperial court will inevitably appoint a new governor of Shazhou, and it may be even more uncomfortable by then."
The remaining four captains nodded repeatedly.
Lieutenant Sha said: "Then we will maintain the same situation, blockade and control the governor's mansion, and everything will remain as before."