In early June of the fourth year of Zhonghe, after collecting some more offerings along the way, Shao Shude returned to Baichengzi, where he had been away for two months.
The residents of Xiazhou have long known about the commander-in-chief's great victory in the northern expedition to the grasslands. During the days when the army was reorganizing, various gossips were circulating.
For example, the commander-in-chief killed a hundred thousand party members in Dijinze, for example, he seized millions of cattle and sheep, for example, the Zhe family married another daughter to the commander-in-chief, etc. The news was spread by people with noses and eyes, at the time and place, and it was serious and impressive.
Can't tell true from false.
But one thing is consistent, that is, this expedition was a great victory! Yinzhou has sent over 20,000 cattle, as well as 20,000 grassland women and children, including party members, Uighurs, Turks, Tuyuhun and other miscellaneous people.
All of them are. It is said that they will be resettled in Yinzhou, and those Chao soldiers will be given as wives, so that they can settle down and live in the four counties of Yinzhou.
Bah! The cheap guys are killing the talent! You don’t even have to pay a betrothal gift, but you are going to have a wife and children. Your life has become stable all of a sudden. How can you be so lucky?
In the first half of this year, more than 500 families of sergeants' families moved in to Xiazhou City one after another, all from Heyang Town. The discipline of Wei Bojun was so bad that no one could stand it.
The horse dealer had to bribe a considerable part of the horses to get those sergeants who were jealous of money to let them go and even cooperate, so that the family members of Sergeant Heyang moved over one after another.
Even some ordinary people in Heyang were asking if they could leave. After getting a positive answer, hundreds more families left, and these people were resettled in Yinzhou. Although they were living on rented military farms, it was still better than living on a military farm.
The precarious life in your hometown in Heyang is so precarious. Are you willing to be fine, but a group of Wei Bo sergeants suddenly came to your home, robbed all your belongings, and took the women away? If you don't obey the slightest, they will be chopped off with a knife, which is like a bandit.
No different.
In this matter, brothers Wang Chongrong and Wang Chongying did help a lot. At least, they did not intercept but let them go, which is very rare. These Wang brothers often do not look like warlords, but more like long-sleeved people who are good at dancing.
For politicians, focusing on making good friends with surrounding vassals and towns is indeed a good way to survive.
In the second half of the year, they will have to rely on their brothers for help. For this reason, this year Wang Chongrong asked Shao Shude to buy a thousand military horses, and gave him a preferential price. Of course, this guy also bought a thousand horses from Li Keyong, but he didn't buy a thousand horses from Li Keyong.
Offended, if you do this as a human being, you will be invincible!
Before the army entered the city, they placed the captured cattle and sheep outside the city. A small tribe that surrendered by the Wushui River was brought back. They will graze in the original imperial pasture by the Wuding River in the south of Xiazhou City on the condition that they help take care of it.
The cattle, sheep, horses and camels we brought back.
This tribe has less than a thousand people, so it is natural that they are willing to do so. No matter how rich the water and grass are in the pastures occupied by the Tang Dynasty, no one dares to graze them for a long time except for occasionally sneaking sheep over for a meal, otherwise they will be raped by the corrupt officials.
The uncle took it away, where can I complain?
The north gate of Xiazhou was crowded with family members of the newly moved sergeants. They were eagerly looking for their relatives in the ranks. It was very good, it tasted like Jinyang. Back then, Yi Zhao led ten thousand people to the north to defend the enemy, and the three cities of Jinyang
In Jinyang and Taiyuan, families of sergeants from Erji County came to say goodbye. This situation also happened in Xiazhou, which gave Shao Shude a sense of familiarity.
"The handsome man is mighty!"
"The handsome man is victorious!"
"Next time you go on an expedition, Marshal, please take so-and-so with you, so-and-so knows archery!"
"With so many cattle and sheep, there will be no shortage of meat for several years."
"I didn't eat meat a few times in Heyang. I didn't expect that when I moved to Xiazhou, I would eat meat every day, thanks to my elder husband."
"I just moved from Heyang last month. Wei Bojun's son of a bitch is so shameless! I need to talk to my eldest brother and tell him not to wait for Shaoyao, who was snatched away by Wei Bojun, and to marry a wife in Xiazhou.
"
"Zhaoyi is also in chaos, with killings happening every day. Xiazhou is a bit poor, but it is better than being stable."
"Where is the poverty? Is it poor where you can eat meat every day?"
"Brother, who is Marshal Shao? He just moved from Zezhou and I don't know him yet."
"I want to marry the handsome man."
With so many family members greeting them at the door, the sergeants could not help but raise their heads and chests, and the queue became more orderly.
Shao Shude smiled and lowered the carriage curtains, and stroked Wei Cailaimei's head with his right hand. This Dangxiang woman, known as the Pearl of the Earth, knelt in front of him, looking extremely respectful.
"Go back and grow your hair first." Shao Shude stood up, packed her luggage, and wiped the corners of her mouth before getting out of the carriage and greeting the state officials who came to greet her.
Qiu Weidao, the supervisor of the army, Chen Yishen, the prefecture commander, Li Hang, the prefecture commander, Wang Yu, the commander of the prefecture troops, and Shao Shude exchanged a few words with them one by one.
"Qiu Shijun, we agreed to share wealth and wealth back then, and I will have a share of these treasures in the supervisory army." Shao Shude said with a smile.
"What I said in the past turned out to be true unexpectedly. The commander-in-chief has achieved what he has achieved today, which is really extraordinary." Qiu Weidao also said with a smile.
"But after bringing the clan members to Xiazhou, Guanzhong is still not very stable."
"Of course I should, I'll write a letter when I get back. With a large family of hundreds of people, I have to ask for the protection of the commander-in-chief."
"There is no shirking the responsibility. Sharing wealth and honor is something I don't just say with my mouth, but I also think so in my heart."
"Chen Biejia is a noble and important member of the imperial court. I am very happy to be here to vote for you." Shao Shu took Chen Yishen's hand and said with a smile.
"The saint is still in Shu, and we don't even have a salary, so we can only vote for the commander-in-chief." Chen Yishen said with a bitter smile.
"Judge Zhang retired from office, so he might as well come to work in the shogunate."
"The commander-in-chief has orders, and he will obey them."
Afterwards, Shao Shude took Li Hang and Wang Yu said something, and then, surrounded by his own soldiers, he walked back to the mansion. The carriage he was riding in had already returned to the mansion.
"Welcome to your victorious king." As soon as he returned home, Zhe Fangmei took Zhao Yu and the Feng sisters came out to greet him.
Shao Shude looked at his wife, who was not yet twenty years old, and said somewhat amusedly: "Why is this necessary? They are all members of the family, why are they doing such scenes?"
According to the age of later generations, Zhe Fang Ai may have just graduated from high school, but at this time, she solemnly brought her wives and concubines to greet her. They were all dressed in formal clothes and full of ceremony, which made Shao angry and funny.
I need to take good care of you tonight!
"Come over here and help your husband settle the accounts," Shao Shude said with a wave of his hand.
All the wives and concubines responded, but Xiao Feng blushed when he heard the word "husband".
When the army returned, they brought with them more than 200,000 miscellaneous livestock. In addition to the more than 100,000 livestock sent to Suizhou by Zhou Rong before, the sum of the seizures and sacrifices was really a lot!
Zhe Fang Ai didn't know how to settle accounts, and was holding the daughter born by Xiao Feng. Shao Shude looked hot and rushed to pick up the child, watching happily.
"The king has an heir, and I am happy."
Shao Shude looked carefully at Zhe Fang Ai's forced smile and whispered, "In the next few days, I will be at Madam Xian's disposal."
Zhe Fang Ai's face gradually turned red, first a small patch, and soon it spread all over her face. She almost automatically entered husband-taming mode, but in front of Zhao Yu and the Feng sisters, it was difficult to say anything, so she was anxious
She had to snatch the child away and carry her away.
Hehe, a little high school student still wants to fight with me! Shao Shude clasped his hands behind his back and sat behind the desk, watching several pleasant wives and concubines busy at work.
Although there were a lot of things, it was just a matter of mathematics. I simply classified them into categories, and after counting the copies of the military accounts, I quickly calculated the results. Feng Xuan, who had the best handwriting, copied them and handed them to Shao Shude.
Shao wanted to hold Da Feng in his arms, but when he saw that his wife was still there, he stopped thinking and looked at the data seriously.
There are a total of 5,700 horses, 9,500 camels, more than 63,000 cattle, 323,000 sheep, donkeys, and very few pigs, a few hundred in total, which are classified as "other miscellaneous animals" and will not be mentioned for the time being.
This achievement is only one-third of Liao Xingzong's. Xixia built up the walls and cleared the fields in advance, moved grain, grass, cattle and sheep, but you were stunned by you and got so many things. This level is indeed high! Of course, compared with those
It's hard to compare to the "great master" who captured millions and tens of millions of cattle and sheep at one time.
The road is long and long!
Horses, Shao Shude plans to sell them. The price may not be able to maintain 40 pieces of silk. It may drop a little, but the total of 200,000 pieces of silk is estimated to be available. The problem is to find customers. There is no rush, sell slowly.
Okay, there are still a lot of horses in Yinchuan Ranch that cannot be sold. Alas, we need to open the Shuzhong Market. There are many big customers there, and it is easy to give money!
Cattle, unfortunately, are not farm cattle. They need to be trained. There are more than 60,000 cattle, and I don’t know how much they can be trained. If they are not farm cattle, not many people will buy them. No one may want them even if they cost more than two thousand.
Shao Shude calculated that it should not be overestimated, so he calculated it as worth 150,000 yuan.
To be honest, sheep are much easier to sell than cattle. People in the Tang Dynasty liked to eat mutton, even to the point of loving it. One head is worth four to five hundred yuan, and the lamb is also worth two hundred yuan. Conservatively speaking, it is worth more than 100,000 yuan.
It’s really hard to find a seller for camels. I have no choice but to keep them by myself first, and wait for an opportunity to sell them later, or just keep them for my own use. Trouble!
Not counting camels, just the captured cattle, horses and sheep, and a reward of 25,000 sergeants (2,000 warriors of all ethnic groups were selected as cavalry in Dijinze) are almost enough, and there are still some worth tens of thousands of coins left.
Cattle and sheep.
These rewards do not need to be given out all at once, but can be given out five times a year. By then the cattle and sheep will probably have multiplied a little more. Considering that this year, the sergeants and Chaozhong families in Sui and Yin Prefectures have also begun to pay taxes, and then find a way to sell one
There will be another wave of taxes on horses from Yinchuan Ranch next year, and it is estimated that the reward gap in the five years of neutralization will not be large.
Even the food gift is not enough! Is it possible to use camels to pay off the debt? Yes, we still have to find a way to deal with it.
Why is it so difficult to raise an army? Shao Shude was so angry that he almost threw away his brush.
To be honest, the treatment of our sergeants is above average among the towns. I really don’t know how the eight towns in northwest Beijing live now. The commander must have reduced the rewards. Most of the sergeants are in trouble, but now they have accepted their fate and know that even if
Even if you rob prefectures and counties, you can't afford to support them, so you have to accept the reality. So you still insist on the same treatment. Isn't it a bit stupid?
But I really dare not lower the treatment of sergeants!
Let’s mess around with this poor finance. Let’s see how much tribute we can receive from the grassland barbarians every year, and how much we can collect through taxes. It is estimated that the soldiers who are in trouble will have to receive physical rewards such as cattle and sheep for a long time.
, I believe everyone can understand that, compared with the other seven companies in the eight towns in northwest Beijing, you should be satisfied.