Pei Guan waited in Jinyang for many days, but there was no news of Li Keyong summoning him.
On the 27th, Wang Ke, Wang Yu and his wife came to visit again.
Wang Ke's wife, Mrs. Li, was chattering and kept asking about the saint's situation. She was eager to go to Peking.
Back then, the saint entertained the couple at Longchi Palace in Anyi and stayed with them for a period of time. Li had a very good impression of the saint, and she was the only woman who could make him run away in fear.
Wang Ke's face turned green when he heard this, but he stayed under the fence and did not dare to say anything. He was even more afraid of being teased and humiliated by Wang Yao after going to Xia Kingdom. He is now the deputy envoy to the Privy Council of Beiya, with a high and powerful position, while Wang Ke is just a member of the Jin Dynasty.
Yang Xiaoguan, the status difference between the two is too far.
Pei Guan took the opportunity to ask about Li Keyong's condition.
His two daughters did not hide anything. They said that although they could eat and sleep, they ate less than before, slept less than before, were low in energy, and had great physical weakness. The medical officer said that they were in a severe trance.
The evil takes the opportunity to invade, and the accumulated internal injuries occur again, causing serious illness.
This is the end of a warrior. One moment he was still commanding, driving the army to conquer; or he was meeting with officials from all walks of life, and he was angry and scolded loudly;
But their collapse is often instantaneous. If you have a premonition in advance, you can also take drugs to give it a try. If you don't feel it, you suddenly fall ill and get seriously worse within a few months. You need to stay in bed to rest, and death is not far away.
Far.
On the last day of August, there was no news, so Pei Guan took a few followers and went for a stroll on the street.
The location of He's residence is Fenyangfang, where military academy generals gather and live, and the market is relatively prosperous.
The largest among them is probably the grain store.
Pei Guan took a closer look and found that 70% was millet, 20% was wheat, and 10% was other miscellaneous grains.
He grabbed a handful with his own hands and asked, "What's the price of millet?"
The shopkeeper didn't say anything. The servant looked at the sergeant who was following Pei Guan and said, "Sixty yuan for a dou of millet."
In fact, it's not too outrageous. During the war, food was in short supply, and Jinyang was a big city that relied solely on imports from outside. This price was normal.
He remembered that in the fourth year of Zhenguan (630), there was a good harvest in Bingzhou, and the price of millet was three cents. But that was an abnormal price, and it may also be related to the money shortage, because the court was also short of copper coins at that time. The price of copper on the market was extremely expensive, and everything was
It's so cheap, the price of a piece of silk is only one-tenth of what it is now.
In addition, Hedong has always been an important grain-producing area.
During the reign of Emperor Suzong, Wang Sili served as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu and accumulated millions of stones of millet in Taiyuan.
When Deng Jingshan was the Yin of Taiyuan, "he only treated guests to dolphins and fish, and those who took the red rotten millet from the warehouse ate them and gave them to his subordinates."
One more thing, Deng Jingshan did not deliberately humiliate the soldiers. Because there was too much grain stored in Taiyuan, some of the aged grain was wasted if not eaten. He himself also ate "silk millet red rot" and did not receive special treatment.
But that's not how things work. Are you willing to endure hardship and serve as a soldier? Later, Deng Jingshan was beaten to death.
After Li Keyong took charge of Hedong, the local economy went from bad to worse. The team left behind by Zheng Congchen helped to manage it, but it only slowed down the decline, and there was not much change in essence.
The most outrageous thing is that, as Li Keyong's basic base, Shatuo Sanbu and Zhaowu's nine surnames also had a bad life.
Liu Jun was from Shatuo, and his wife An was born in the ninth surname of Zhaowu, and then remarried Murong Sanlang. This Murong Sanlang was from Tuyuhun, his hometown was in Shizhou, but he was a landowner.
From such a comparison, we can see that Li Keyong's governance is really a mess, and I don't know what he is thinking.
But from another point of view, the three Shatuo people did not have hard-core crops, but relied on their own efforts. This may not be a bad thing. Another point may also be related to the fierce martial arts in the North at this time. The Shatuo people and the Sogdians,
The Tuyuhun people, the Uyghurs, and so on, did not have the heart to seek special treatment, and they were also afraid of being beaten back to Daibei again.
"Why not grow more wheat?" Pei Guanqi asked.
According to his understanding, millet and wheat are now grown together in Kansai and Henan. Generally speaking, the sown area of wheat is slowly increasing every year, while that of millet is decreasing day by day. Millet is still the mainstream in Hedong, which is the same as thirty years ago, and there seems to be no development at all.
.
"There is also wheat. Most of it grows between Fen and Qin. It supplies military supplies nearby, and less is exported to the north. Now except for Jinyang, Fen, and Qin, wheat is almost never exported to other places. There is not enough food there." The boy said:
"Since last year, Vice Envoy Li has brought back a batch of wheat from Xin, and everyone praised him."
Pei Guan nodded calmly. It turns out that wheat in Hedong is mostly produced in the river valleys in the south. After years of war, it seems that the area there is a little overwhelmed, and the grain output has dropped significantly.
The Jinjun primary school who accompanied him out for shopping showed no intention of stopping him, which made Pei Guan a little surprised. Is this allowed to be said?
After leaving the grain store, Pei Guan was not in a hurry to go back and went into the fruit and vegetable store again.
There is a dazzling array of local unique fruits such as Tongzisi grapes, Nanjie Gantang, Taibi Valley jujubes and so on——
During the Zhenyuan period, grapes were planted in Xitongzi Temple in Jinyang. They were of high quality and well-known far and near, and were listed as tributes. The Changming Gate of Daming Palace (built by Gao Huan) in Jinyang, the northern capital, leads to the vineyard. This kind of fruit is very common in Hedong.
Tied with pears.
During the Kaiyuan period, Xuanzong inspected the northern capital and saw "Lianli Gantang" in Jinyang South Street. The streets and alleys of Jinyang, from Fenyangfang to Shangdangfang, from Jinyang Palace to Shuimen, the street trees on both sides of the street, five out of ten
Sixth is the Gantang pear tree.
Taibi Valley is located in Yuci County and is famous for its extremely high quality jujubes.
Pei Guan bought some casually and handed it to his entourage and sergeants to share. Everyone immediately thanked him.
The shopkeeper who sells dates is also smiling. It is not easy to do business and find a customer.
"What do children eat?" Pei Guan's sharp eyes saw the store's children picking up their lunch, and the bowl seemed to be half wild vegetables and half gruel.
"Immortal apples were picked at Jinci Temple," the shopkeeper said.
"Children are just growing up. Will eating apples help them fill their stomachs?" Pei Guan asked.
The store owner was a little hesitant.
"Ten more pounds of grapes." Pei Guan waved his hand and said.
The entourage immediately selected the fruits and paid for them, all in one go.
The storekeeper sighed and said: "There were rumors a while ago that we were going to go on an expedition. During this expedition, the price of food must have skyrocketed. Many people know about Jinci's immortal apples. They live under water and survive in winter, and they are delicious to eat. I thought about it,
I came back to pick more apples and spent a lot less money on food. But then there was no news, and I don’t know what happened.”
This is another exciting piece of information!
Pei Guan glanced out of the corner of his eye. The Jin soldiers accompanying him were only eating fruits and didn't care about what the store said.
"What is the Immortal Apple?" Pei Guan asked again.
The shopkeeper shouted, and his wife brought a handful over to show Pei Guan.
This time I saw it clearly. It turned out to be a kind of wild vegetable used to feed livestock. In fact, it is also found in Kansai. The sage called it "four-leaf clover", which grows in the water. When it is warm in winter, it can be fished from the river. But turnip is widely promoted.
After planting, livestock will not be short of pasture in winter, and fewer people will go to the river to fish for it.
It's just that he didn't expect that the people of Jinyang were still fishing for this kind of thing, and they were eating it for others, so there was no way to explain it.
After sighing, Pei Guan continued to wander to the market where livestock and poultry were sold.
There are actually a lot of livestock in Hedong.
During the Dezong Dynasty, Li Xuanyuan once wrote a poem: "On the Bingzhou Road in autumn, the yellow elms fall into the old pass...The tent is far away by the water, and the cattle and sheep descend from the mountain."
Among livestock, horses are the most numerous.
During the Zhenguan period, the Eastern Turks were destroyed, and a large number of Turks surrendered and were resettled in the Taiyuan area. From these Turks, the imperial court paid for the redemption of the Central Plains population that had been submerged by the Turks in the late Sui Dynasty. "More than 80,000 men and women" were resettled in the area.
Near Jinyang.
The imperial court also set up three prisons, namely Loufan, Tianchi and Xuanchi, in the east of the river to keep officials and horses.
During the Yuanhe period, due to the defeat of Wang Chengzong, there were only 30,000 infantry and 600 cavalry left in Hedong. Wang E, the military commander in the middle of the river, moved to Taiyuan. After more than a year of operation, "the number of soldiers reached 50,000, the cavalry reached 5,000, and the finances were abundant."
By the end of the Tang Dynasty, only one of the three official and pastoral prisons was left, and the official horses were in ruins, but horse breeding among the people was increasingly on the rise.
"There are tens of thousands of armies and horses. The princes, generals, and relatives are herding cattle, camels, sheep, and horses a hundred times more than the county magistrates. They all use the name of the city to seal their names. The generals and schools also prepare private horses."
People in Hedong also like to ride horses and hunt.
Wang Han, a native of Taiyuan, said: "His mother, Jin, was a Hu woman. She was good with bows and horses, and was known to be rugged and fierce. She often galloped on strong horses, with her arms and waist bowed, and she went into the mountains to hunt for bears, deer, foxes and rabbits, and killed many of them."
"
This strong martial culture, the widespread behavior of private horses among the people, and the mobilization ability of the feudal towns were probably the main reasons why the barbarians were unable to invade.
The Uighurs, Turks, and Khitans may not be that weak. It's just that the "Hu Feng" in the Central Plains was too strong and suppressed them.
Pei Guan watched the horse market for a long time. When he came to a shop, he asked: "Why don't you see tall and strong horses?"
"They are all in the army." Xu said there was no business, the shopkeeper replied angrily. Then he saw the warrior behind Pei Guan, and immediately changed his attitude and said: "The customer doesn't know something. Since the rebellion between Li Guochang and his son, Lou Fan has been
When the prison was destroyed, the official horses in Hedong were gone. Later, when the Jin Dynasty rebuilt, it was not very successful, so they had to recruit private horses. The private horses of the generals did not dare to be recruited, but the private horses of the common people could not be recruited? "
Pei Guan was a little confused. The rebellion between Li Guochang and his son? Can this be said?
But those Jin soldiers were eating pears and didn't care at all. Well, maybe they heard it, but what the store owner said was also true. Is it necessary to shut people up? King Jin himself might have laughed it off after hearing it.
This is the custom, it's normal.
"Does the shogunate often recruit private horses?" Pei Guan asked in a low voice.
"There weren't many before, but now there are more." The store owner said nonchalantly: "If the levy is continued for a few more years, the common people will be gone, and the generals and merchants will have to be levied. Our horse market will probably not be able to open."
"Where have all the horses gone?" Pei Guan asked.
"Does this need to be said?" The shopkeeper laughed and said: "How many horses will be killed in a battle with the Xia people? How many horses will be killed in order to quickly reinforce them when the war is urgent? And this year's battle, again, how many horses will be killed?
Even too many horses are not enough."
"Is there a solution?" Pei Guan continued to ask.
"Let's restore the three official horse guards first." The storekeeper sighed: "But the incompetent people in Hedong are all a bunch of losers. I'm sorry. In fact, there are so many mountains and countless horse-raising fields, but there is no one."
I know how to do things, I hate it!”
Hearing what the store owner said, the Jin soldiers who were eating pears finally reacted, but instead of blaming the store owner, they sighed together.
Pei Guan collected his thoughts.
Hedong is a treasure land. It has salt, iron, grain, horses, and a large number of people who are proficient in martial arts. Ding Zhuang has been trained for many years by local Tuan villagers, and there are also generals who are familiar with war. Why have they gotten to this point?
?
Li Keyong's poor governance was only part of the reason. The deeper factor was that wars were too frequent, which slowly depleted his originally extremely wealthy family.
The people living on this land, including Han, Shatuo, Sogdians, Tuyuhun, Uighurs, Tatars, etc., were all exhausted and impoverished by the war.
Jinyang is the capital, Beijing in the former Tang Dynasty, and a metropolis. It is seeing a shortage of supplies. You can only imagine what other places are like.
It is certainly a good scheming plan for the saint to befriend the Li family and be kind to the people from Hedong. But if the scheming plan is to be effective, it must be supported by reality. The current situation in Hedong has greatly increased the power of the scheming plan.
This is the majestic way of the saint, the supreme art of war, which uses a combination of right and wrong to disintegrate the morale of the army and people in Hedong.
When he and Li Keyong became sworn friends, the saint might not have expected so much. But he was very good at eating more than one fish and would constantly explore the potential of everything. Li Keyong was not unjust when he fell into his hands.
"I know the story from the smallest detail, and I know what happened in Bingzhou." Pei Guan sighed with emotion, left Fangshi, and returned to He's house.
When entering, a servant came to report that the King of Jin was hosting a banquet on the Double Ninth Festival and invited Pei Shaoqing to attend.