"Actually, Yinzhou is suitable for both grazing and farming. It is a pity that the imperial court set up a pasture here and occupied the fields." Pei Shang said: "The envoy of the Song Dynasty has been here for some time. You should know that I am not talking nonsense."
"There are many fertile fields and fertile soil. There are always 10,000 to 20,000 hectares." Song Le said.
In fact, in later generations, Yinzhou was also an important agricultural area that the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia fought for repeatedly, especially Xixia, which attached great importance to it. Lu Huiqing once mentioned in "Yingtian Shu": "Today's Jialu (today's Jiaxian County, Shaanxi), There are no less than 120,000 hectares of fertile land inside and outside Mizhi. The Xia people called it "Zhenzhu Mountain" or "Qibao Mountain", saying that it produced a lot of grain and millet. If half of it was plowed, the military expenses of the two new villages would not be exhausted. How can it be possible to exploit all the capital inland?"
The wealthy Song people in Yinzhou felt it was a pity not to farm the 120,000 hectares of fertile land, and thought it could support two armies. In the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1085), Lu Huiqing mobilized 18,000 soldiers. He had more than 2,000 horses, hired cattle from five inland counties, guarded 500 households of farmers, and forced them to cultivate a piece of land, yielding more than 9,000 hu of grain.
To be honest, this cost-effectiveness ratio is a bit low. With 20,000 troops guarding 500 households farming, it feels a bit like fighting with Xixia. Both sides went back and forth, repeatedly plowing, protecting and grabbing land, and both ended up losing money. Awesome. So four years later, after negotiations, the Song Dynasty ceded Jialu, Mizhi, Futu, the four villages of Anjiang and their land in exchange for a small number of soldiers captured by Xixia in the Yongle Battle. This ended This farce.
Now Yinzhou is entirely in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, and there are no enemies around. Of course, there is no need for such trouble, and it can be cultivated and developed. Moreover, the population of the four counties in the state is not large at this time, only more than 40,000 people, and it does not occupy the land of a horse farm. If there are sufficient manpower, it will become another important grain production base in Xia Sui.
"The governor of Song Dynasty has been in charge of Suizhou for three years. It's been a hard work." Looking at Song Le with a weathered look on his face, Shao Shude was a little moved and said: "After taking care of Yinzhou's affairs, we can take a break."
"After the matter in Yinzhou, there is still Xiazhou." Song Le was in good spirits and said with a smile: "It's rare to meet a commander who cares about people's livelihood and is willing to do things. Song can't wait to sleep in the Yamen all day long. .”
"We also have to combine work and rest." Shao Shude said: "There are not many affairs in Xiazhou. After the land reclamation work in Yinzhou is completed, I plan to run a ranch. After all, Xiazhou is different from Suizhou and Yinzhou."
"The matter of the ranch..." Pei Shang said from the side: "The Yinchuan ranch is really not suitable for continued expansion. However, there is still a lot to be done in the northern border of Erzhou."
Of course, Tuoba Sigong was not entirely in the hands of Youzhou. Yuduole City, where the Jinglue Army was stationed, was in the territory of Youzhou. In Xia, the north of Youzhou was a vast grassland and desert, which later became the Ordos Pastoral Area within the Hetao. .This place had abundant water and grass during the warm, humid and rainy Tang Dynasty. It faces the Alxa Pastoral Area across the Yellow River and is very suitable for grazing.
"In the area west of Linzhou, east of the river, and north of Hengshan, there are many mixed tribes of people, the most numerous of which are Dangxiang, who gather together to live in the wilderness. Linzhou has lost its family, and the Tuoba family of Youzhou has fierce competition here. They fall with the wind, like grass on the wall, and listen to whoever is strong." Pei Shang continued: "His business does not involve farming and mulberry trees, but livestock, horses, cattle, sheep, and camels. Well, Yanzhou in the southwest is also on the top. Good pasture, but it is in the hands of Shuofang's army, let's not mention it for now. To the north of Youzhou City, there is a sandy land (later Mu Us Desert), with water and grass for cattle and sheep. There is a place in the sandy land named Tiejin Ze, also known as The land is rich and marshy, good for water and grass, and suitable for raising livestock, so it can be used as pasture.”
"Let's talk about Yanzhou." Pei Shang looked at Shao Shude with a half-smile and said: "Salt and Youzhou are close to each other and they are actually one body. There is a small salt pond in Yanzhou, but this is a small profit. The big profit is the Tiezhu Spring, and the water flows dry.
He drinks tens of thousands of horses and horses every day, and the surrounding areas are fertile and arable land, which is suitable for grazing and farming."
Shao Shude still knew about the Mu Us Desert north of Youzhou. Environmental damage mainly began in the Ming Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the desert area was not large. Even if it existed, it was fixed or semi-fixed sand dunes, and the water resources were much richer than in later generations. Li Jiqian's
Sisi fled here and took wives from each tribe, probably dozens or hundreds of wives, and then counterattacked the Song Dynasty and gradually gained momentum.
"Based on many years of observation, there are more than 100,000 miscellaneous captives in the northern grasslands of Xia and Youzhou, 200,000 to 300,000 cattle, and more than 1 million alpacas. It is not a problem. Your Majesty, can you solve this great problem?" Pei Shang
smiled.
In terms of area, the Ordos pastoral area can indeed raise millions of cattle and sheep. Moreover, the water and grass are abundant at this time. Since there are more than 100,000 miscellaneous captives, there are indeed millions of cattle and sheep. However, the Tuoba family is involved here.
, the Zhe family's matter is rather complicated, and we need to clear things up with Linzhou first. It is best to resolve it together with Tuoba Sigong's matter to avoid future troubles.
It would be a joke if Li Jiqian was allowed to go to Dijinze to develop like the Northern Song Dynasty. It would be better to do it once and for all. Moreover, it would be better to send out a large army to fight for a short time. If it lasts for a long time, it will also destroy the fragile local ecology. At this time, Ordos
, but there is still a considerable area of forest. If the army arrives and the stalemate lasts for more than a year, it will be cut down by you.
Without forests, how to prevent wind and sand, conserve water and soil?
"Your Majesty, would you like to hear about Lingzhou Ranch?" Pei Shang asked again.
"Of course I am willing."
"On the west side of Lingzhou there is Helan Mountain, known as Alxa Mountain in Tibetan, which blocks the cold wind and blocks the sand dunes. From north to south, there are Luoshan Mountain and Tiandu Mountain. Above Luoshan Mountain, the water is sweet and the soil is lively, and there are good trees and orange trees. Tao (Hetao)
) invaded the bandits and settled here for a long time. Tiandu Mountain has lush vegetation, and there are springs in the valleys, which can be used for horses to drink, and can also irrigate the farmland at the foot of the mountain. There is also Weishan Mountain, with abundant water and grass, many trees, and fertile land, which is used for woodcutting by the Tibetan people.
There are many wild horses, wild boars, eagles, and falcons in this land. Not to mention the many mountains. In short, I haven’t visited them all. They are all what I saw when I was hunting in one place in the past. Your Majesty should check it out." Pei Shang said.
"General Pei has been of great help to me!" Shao Shude stood up, bowed solemnly, and said.
"The king is a noble man, so don't do this." Pei Shang quickly stood up and avoided it, saying: "If the general uses troops in the future, even though Pei cannot go into battle to fight, he can still make plans on the side. In this way, the king's trust is not in vain."
"There is something useful for General Pei."
After sending Pei Shang away, Shao Shude continued chatting with Song Le.
"Mr. Song, these three years have all depended on you." Shao Shude said: "The great scenery in Suizhou today is all due to Mr. Song."
"My lord has great ambitions, and Mr. Song can't stand these troubled times, so he should do his best." Song Le said: "My lord, how do you know that Mr. Song is not enjoying it?"
"Haha, Shao will remember Mr. Song's contribution." Shao Shude said: "Yinzhou must cultivate the land as soon as possible, and I will find the manpower to find a solution."
"Your Majesty, how should Tuoba party items be dealt with?" Song Le asked.
"A certain person wants to summon Tuoba Sigong to Xiazhou. If he refuses to come, he has different intentions and should be eliminated." Shao Shude said without hesitation: "However, he has been running Youzhou for many years. It is not easy to attack by force and it is very troublesome."
"How about cutting off the wings first?" Song Le suggested.
"Mr. Song's intention is to attack the grassland first?" Shao Shude asked.
"Yes." Song Le said: "The Tuoba clan has two wings, one is Hengshan Dangxiang, and the other is grassland miscellaneous barbarians. Hengshan is vast, the terrain is dangerous and solid, and the attack is protracted, so it is easy for them to surrender to the Tuoba clan. Grassland barbarians, if
With the help of the Zhe family, the attack will be more effective with half the effort, and it will not cause them to turn to the Tuoba family."
Shao Shude pondered after hearing the words.
With the help of the Linzhou Zhe family, it is certainly not difficult to attack the grassland miscellaneous barbarians. But will this make the Zhe family bigger? Although they are the Yue family and have a close relationship, from the perspective of a superior, it seems that the power of the Zhe family will expand rapidly.
It’s not a good thing. The Zhe family was loyal to the Central Plains court in later history, but who knows whether that was because the Tuoba party gained the territory of the Difficult Army and its power increased greatly? The two families are feuding, and it is impossible for the Zhe family to surrender to Tuoba.
The Ba family, in order to counteract the influence of the Tuoba family, naturally had no choice but to rely on the Central Plains Dynasty.
But what if the Tuoba family is destroyed by oneself? The situation will be different.
Shao Shude doesn't want a powerful party chief to appear in this area again, not even his own in-laws. How to deal with this matter needs to be carefully considered, and at present, it seems to be a dead end. Unless, it can be done
Those grassland barbarians surrendered to themselves instead of losing their families in Linzhou, but this operation was too difficult to control.